


disco vibes

by pigeonpi



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Abusive Parents, Anxiety, Bad Parenting, Blind Aviators, Blind Character, Car Accidents, Computers, Depression, Eating Disorders, Gay Panic, Homophobia, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Parent Death, Racism, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Soda, Spiraling, Suicide Attempt, Surfing, and aloha is todays sad boi, audio recording, best bros, but not very prominent yet, drug overdose, or at least nearly blind, spacing out, yes soda gets its own tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 32,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22329025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonpi/pseuds/pigeonpi
Summary: Aloha is one of the most popular inklings in Inkopolis.But he's not as cheerful as he seems.He suffers with money problems, and has serious self-doubt issues. Meanwhile, he has to act like his "normal" self while he goes to S4 meetings.Let's see what happens.read at your own risk
Relationships: Aloha/Army/Mask/Skull (Splatoon), Aviators/Scuba (Splatoon), Aviators/Snorkel (Splatoon), Bobble/Headphones (Splatoon)
Comments: 89
Kudos: 96
Collections: CoroikaCollection





	1. balloohs

**Author's Note:**

> wowowowow 
> 
> another thing i wrote while exhausted at night
> 
> why do i always write these when im feeling outta wack
> 
> btw, i edited this so i could do interesting things later.
> 
> you probably won't notice. but maybe you will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Army has balloons in his room??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all of the typos in the chat sections are intentional i swear.
> 
> aloha is basically how i actually type without autocorrect in chats

Aloha walked out of Deca Tower, stretching out his arms.

“Mmm! That was fun~!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Aloha could see a couple inklings coming up to him, carrying gifts.

“Aloha, that was amazing! You’re so cool!” One of the inklings, a girl, gushed at him. “I got this for you!” 

It was a 6-pack of strawberry soda. His favorite.

“Thank you! I love strawberry soda! It’s my favorite!” The girl giggled.

“Yay! I’m so glad!”

The other inkling, a boy, looked to the side and shoved something at him. A cake?

“I-I think you’re really cool… uhm…” The boy said, shaking a little. Aloha gave him a grin and took the cake.

“Hey, you’re pretty cool yourself! Did you make this cake yourself?” The boy nodded, his hat covering most of his face. Aloha grinned again. “That’s extra cool! Thank you so much!” He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. 

“Uhm… you’re welcome! You’re my idol!” Aloha grinned.

“Thank you! That means a lot!” 

The boy yelped. 

“Come on Ozzy! We gotta go!” The girl said. The boy nodded and gave a small wave. 

As the two walked away, Aloha realized that the boy was, in fact, an octoling.

Huh. Interesting.

He shrugged, and started to walk to his apartment.

His phone buzzed a moment later, making him stop again. Aloha pulled it out of his pocket, turning it on to see what the cause was.

curry boi: Aloha, what the shell is this?

This was the notification that had stopped Aloha in his tracks. A look of slight confusion crossed his face, and he decided to click on the message to see what Army wanted.

It was a photo of Army’s room, but there were balloons everywhere. The balloons all had different letters on them.

discovibes: what that?

curry boi: Mind explaining, Aloha.

If Aloha was seeing the photo correctly, the balloons spelled out ‘curry boy’.

discovibes: thers ballooohs everwhere

curry boi: I can see that Aloha. Why are they here?

Aloha stared at his phone. Why _had_ he put them there? He couldn’t remember. 

discovibes: dunno

curry boi: Well, can you come here and clean the mess you made?

Had he made the mess? He couldn’t remember. He didn’t think so.

discovibes: army, i don think i putem ther

curry boi: Who else would have put them here, Aloha?

Aloha thought for a moment. Who _could_ have put them there besides him?

discovibes: who else has got ur address

curry boi: I don’t know. Multiple people? 

discovibes: well, might nitta been me

curry boi: No one else calls me ‘curry boy’, Aloha. Now get over here and clean your mess.

discovibes: …

Aloha didn’t know what to type. He looked towards his apartment building and then glanced back down at his phone.

discovibes: fuen whatevre

curry boi: Aloha, please fix your spelling. It’s atrocious.

discovibes: whaterver mom

Aloha started walking to Army’s apartment.

As his legs moved, his mind wandered. 

Had he put those balloons in Army’s room? He was slowly realizing that he hadn’t, which meant a couple things.

One. Army was wrong about the balloons.

Two. Army hated him. Which was probably why he had texted Aloha about the balloons.

It didn’t matter if Army hated Aloha. Everyone hated Aloha, or at least it seemed like it to him.

Wait.

Had he taken his medication today? He wasn’t sure, which probably meant he hadn’t. He felt slightly startled by that revelation.

He sighed.

This conversation with Army was not going to go well, it seemed.

He realized with a start that he was standing outside of Army’s apartment. Had he been zoning out for that long? He rubbed his eyes.

Aloha took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

The first thing Aloha saw was Army’s angry face.

“Clean it up. Now.” Army spat.

“Hey, hey, no need to get mad! I really didn’t do it, curry boy.” Aloha was faking a light tone when he really just wanted to collapse into Army’s arms and cry. 

Fake it till you make it, I guess.

“Aloha, stop lying. I know you did it.” Army looked even angrier. Aloha really wanted to fall to the floor curl and up into a ball.

Uh oh. Aloha’s emotions were getting out of control. He needed to get this over with.

“Army, I really-“ Aloha stopped to cough. He covered his mouth as coughs escaped from his body. “N-nevermind. I’ll just clean it.” Aloha stepped into Army’s apartment, and headed straight for Army’s room. 

Aloha hadn’t realized how many manuals Army had in his room. There were at least five stacks with maybe five manuals in each stack. Aloha stopped in the doorway and looked around.

There were a lot of balloons. Wow. He could see at least 15.

As he cleaned, Aloha was feeling more and more like he really hadn’t done this. This wouldn’t be something that he would do. 

He didn’t have enough money to do this anyways.

“Uh… Army?” Army appeared behind him.

“Is there a problem, Aloha?” His voice was cold, and Aloha suppressed the urge to shiver.

“I’m sure I didn’t do this.” Army looked suspicious, and Aloha realized that it was probably because of his tone of voice. 

Shoot.

Aloha tried to sound somewhat more like ‘himself’. “I mean, this is a totally un-fresh thing to do!” Army sighed.

“Aloha, just clean it up. I know you did it, stop lying to me.” Aloha looked at Army’s face. He looked really annoyed. 

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Aloha turned back around, continuing to clean up the balloons.

He found his mind wandering again as he cleaned.

Where did he put those stupid pills? Now that he was thinking about it, he couldn’t remember the last time he had actually seen them.

“Uh oh.” He said, maybe a little too loud. Army burst back into the room. 

“What? What did you do?” Aloha turned his head abruptly towards Army. Army jumped.

“Nothing, curry boy. I just realized that I might have lost something… important.” Concern flashed across Army’s face for a second. 

“Did you lose one of my manuals?” 

It was at this moment that Aloha lost his somewhat confident demeanor.

“Wh-what? No! I don’t have any of your manuals!” Aloha accidentally let go of one of the balloons in his panic, and it floated back to ceiling. Aloha groaned. Army gave him a look, and then walked to his desk. Aloha figured it was to check to make sure that his manuals were all still there.

“If I hadn’t forgot those stUPID-” Aloha stopped in the middle of his sentence. Army looked at him again from in front of the desk. 

“Forgot those stupid what?” Aloha had finally got all of the balloons together, and he walked to the door.

“Nothing, silly. Where do ya want me to put the balloons?” Army shook his head.

“Trash can. Aloha, it’s obvious that it is _not_ nothing-” Aloha walked away from Army as fast as possible and shoved the balloons into the trash can. 

“Aloha! Don’t ignore me when I’m talking to you!” Aloha looked towards the door as Army entered the kitchen.

Aloha nervously raised his hands. “Hey man, I cleaned the balloons. I’m leaving.” He headed for the door. “See ya later bye!” After quickly shooting Army fingerguns, Aloha ran out of the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i showed my friend some of this, and he said, "i agree with this curry boi person" 
> 
> haha


	2. why do i keep typing maks instead of mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha has a "nice" conversation with Mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh lord here we go again
> 
> by the way, if you were wondering, aloha stole army's phone and set his chat name.
> 
> so army either: a. wanted to keep it  
> or b. is basically an old man that doesn't know how to  
> change it back

Aloha got back to his apartment, somehow. He wasn’t exactly sure how he got there, but the next thing he could clearly remember was sitting on his bed with a can of soda.

He stared at the soda. It was strawberry, one of the ones that the girl from earlier gave him. He cracked it open, and took a small sip. It was good.

He took out his phone to check his Inkstagram, but stopped to look at the messages on his phone.

There was quite a few messages from Army. 

curry boi: Aloha, what was that?

curry boi: Aloha, I swear to cod.

curry boi: Aloha, please answer.

He ignored the messages. He really didn’t want to talk to Army right now.

He sighed, swiping on his phone to check his other messages.

Aloha snickered. Mask had texted him. 

Bobble had set Mask’s chat name, and Mask hadn’t bothered to change it.

haymask: looking for this?

There was a picture attached to it. The smile on Aloha’s face immediately disappeared.

His pills. Why did Mask have his pills?

discovibes: y do u have those

haymask: i found them.

discovibes: can i have em bajk

haymask: i’ll give them to you tmr

There was a pause.

haymask: its funny

haymask: these r antidepressants 

haymask: y would you need these

Aloha stared at the screen, then took a comically long sip from his soda. He choked on it and started coughing. 

“Shit.”

discovibes: theyre not for me 

haymask: liar.

haymask: ur names on it

discovibes: look

discovibes: it doesnt mattert

discovibes: i need em back

haymask: y do u need them

discovibes: mask

discovibes: shut up

discovibes: im coming oevr to get em back

Aloha got off of his bed, pocketing his phone.

He stretched, and started to walk to Mask’s apartment.

Why was Mask’s apartment so damn _far?_

Aloha suddenly realized that he was still holding the can of soda. It wasn’t empty yet. Aloha took another long sip of the soda as he walked. His mind wandered.

Would Mask give him his medicine back? Aloha highly doubted it. 

But he sure was going to try. 

He took another sip of his soda.

A couple minutes later, he was standing in front of Mask’s apartment with an empty can of strawberry soda. He knocked on the door and waited. The door opened slightly, and Mask poked his head out.

“Haaaah? You actually caaame heree?” Mask stared at him, opening the door all the way.

Aloha sighed. “Yes. Give me the pills back.” Mask laughed, crossing his arms.

“So is thiiiiis how you’re reaaaally likee?” Aloha stared at Mask.

“What are ya going off about?” Aloha leaned against the doorframe. Mask gave him a ‘seriously’ kind of look.

“The piiiills make you aiiiirheaded, don’t theeeey?” Aloha shook his head.

“Nope.” Mask raised an eyebrow. 

“You suuuuure?” 

Yes, he was sure. He made sure that he made his personality, and that he kept it up. Most of the time, anyways.

“Yes. I’m sure. Now give them _back,_ Mask.” Mask shrugged, and handed over the bottle. Aloha snatched it out of his hand, and started to walk away.

“I assumeeee youu don’t want meee to tell anyyyoneee.” Mask drawled. Aloha stopped cold, and turned back towards Mask.

“Why would I care if you told someone, huh? No squid with a bit of common sense is gonna believe you.” Aloha shrugged, trying to keep his tone light and uncaring. 

“Alooooohaaaa, I’m sureee they’ll believeee meee.” Mask coughed.

Aloha rubbed his arm. “No, they won’t. Besides, it’s not like it matters to me!” 

Mask rolled his eyes. “Really? It would ruiiin your public imageee, Alooohaaa.” Aloha was starting to space out again. “Heeellooo? Aloooohaaa? Areee youuu listening to meee?” Mask waved a hand.

Aloha snapped back to attention. He stared at Mask’s face.

Ugh. Why was Mask like this?

“Look, Mask.” Aloha’s voice turned cold. “If you tell _anyone,_ and I mean _anyone,_ I’ll tell Bobble about your little secret.” Mask glared at him.

“Don’t youu daaaree!” Mask clenched his fists.

Aloha smirked. “I won’t tell if you won’t~” Mask looked Aloha straight in the eyes.

“Fiiiine.”

“Fine.”

Silence.

“I’m leaving. See ya tomorrow for the meeting!” Aloha forced a grin and waved. Mask rolled his eyes.

“I haaaate thiiiis youuu.” A pause. "Seeeee youuu tomorrooooow." And with that, Mask slammed the door. 

Aloha walked out of Mask’s apartment building.

“Thank goodness.” Aloha decided that the best course of action was to go home, take his pills, and pass out for a couple of hours.

So that’s what he did.

  
  
  


“Why the shell didn’t Aloha answer? That idiot.” Army stared at his phone.

“...” Army sighed, and opened one of his manuals, preparing to write a new curry recipe down.

“I hope he’s okay…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: i really like japanese curry.
> 
> if you put a bowl of japanese curry in front of me, i will eat it in less than ten minutes.
> 
> bruh if i knew army irl id ask him to make me curry every damn day.
> 
> oh right, gotta put stuff about the fanfic.
> 
> uhhh
> 
> oh yeah
> 
> so mask's chat name is a combination of his hay fever (hay) and then his name. its supposed to be like "heymask" but i thought it'd be funny if i did it this way


	3. oh look skull ive gone in order

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skull visits Aloha, and discovers very disturbing stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive been working on this for a couple of days.
> 
> this was a very hard chapter to write. emotions went wack, i fell asleep, was really emotional drained, was great
> 
> ALSO TRIGGER WARNING FOR ALOHA'S BAD THOUGHTS SKIP IT IF YOU'RE UNCOMFORTABLE BECAUSE I WAS V UNCOMFY WRITING IT.

When he came to, the sun was shining in his face.

“Ugh…” Aloha raised a hand to block the light. “I hate this…” He laid there awkwardly, hand raised above his face.

_BANG BANG BANG!_

Aloha jumped out of his bed. 

“What the…” He looked around.

“Let me in.” Aloha turned to the window.

“Skull? How did you get… nevermind.” He opened the window to let Skull in. 

Once Skull had fully entered the room, Aloha sat back down on his bed. 

“Why are you here? I’m seeing you today at the meeting anyways.” 

“You missed the meeting.” 

“...”

“...” 

“Wait…” Aloha rubbed his eyes. “I missed the meeting?”

Skull nodded. “We waited for an hour. You didn’t show, so we just started without you.”

Aloha shook his head. “If I missed the whole meeting…” Aloha looked up at Skull. “What time is it?” Skull took his phone out of his pocket, turned it on, and turned the screen to face Aloha.

3pm. It was 3pm. He had been sleeping for 21 hours.

“No one’s seen you today.”

Aloha sighed. “Yeah.”

Skull looked around Aloha’s apartment. “Are you okay? Your apartment is a mess.”

“Yup! Just forgot to clean it.”

“For a couple of days.”

“Yup!” Skull gave him a judging stare.

Or maybe just a regular stare. Who knows? Skull shows little to no emotions. How the shell was Aloha supposed to tell? 

He was too tired for this, cod dammit.

“Uh, since you’re here, want some soda? It’s strawberry.” Skull was silent. Aloha sighed. “I uh, also have cake-”

“Yes.” Skull interrupted. Aloha sighed. 

“Alright. Stay here, and I’ll clean up a bit.” Aloha got up of the bed. “Don’t touch anything, okay~?” Aloha turned to the door and went to the kitchen to start cleaning.

  
  
  


Skull looked around Aloha’s room. 

“So this is what your room looks like…” Skull murmured. He started to look around the room, giving himself a mini tour.

After a minute of looking around, Skull was satisfied, and sat down on Aloha’s bed. Except… there was something hard under the blankets. Skull got back up, and slid his hand under the cover, trying to feel for the thing under the blankets. He found it, and pulled it out.

“A journal?” Skull lifted it up, and turned it to the front. The journal was a faded pink, and had no indications of who it belonged to.

Skull really didn’t want to intrude on Aloha’s privacy, but he gave in to his curiosity, and opened the journal.

He blinked in surprise. It was blank?

He flipped through the pages of the journal. Something pink flashed within the pages, and Skull stopped flipping. He started to try to find the page, and after another minute, he found it.

Skull stared at the page in shock. 

“What… is this...?” Skull sat down again, starting to read. 

**(please skip if you're uncomfy with bad thoughts!)**

_i cant take this anymore_

_all of my feelings are too much to bear_

_no one will ever love me_

_especially not him_

_stupid_

_stupidstupidstupid_

_hope is stupid_

_she was right no one would ever love me_

_im a horrible person_

_im sorry_

In the middle of the page was a smear of pink that Skull was sure was Aloha’s blood.

“That’s not good…”

_they hate me_

_they just keep me around because i turf_

_they dont care about me_

_im an inconvenience_

_im a mistake_

**(end of uncomfy bad thoughts)**

Skull stared at the journal page. He couldn’t believe what he had just read.

“You better not be touching my stuff, Skull~! I have some secret stuff in there that you don’t wanna see~!” Aloha called out playfully. 

I mean, he wasn’t _wrong._ Skull didn’t want to see that. At all. He quietly slipped the journal back under the blankets. 

He needed time to process this.

Should he tell the others? 

Who was the “he” that Aloha mentioned? He assumed the the “they” in the journal referred to either the S4 or Team Pink. 

With that bit of logic, the “he” Aloha could be talking about anyone in the S4 team, or Scuba. 

Since Aloha had separated the mystery guy from everyone else, he had to be important somehow. Which one out of the four was close to Aloha?

It couldn’t be Mask. Aloha and Mask fought all the time. 

It couldn’t be Army. They weren’t close at all.

It couldn’t be himself, they rarely talked outside of the S4 meetings, and even then… 

Scuba was the last option. Aloha was best friends with Scuba. 

He could text Scuba and ask him about Aloha, but there was a high chance that Scuba would tell Aloha about Skull poking around. 

And from what he gathered, Army and Mask knew nothing. Although… Mask had seemed a bit nervous during the meeting today. Something must have happened. Now that he thought more about it, Army had become increasingly more antsy as the meeting dragged on. Army had also been the one who had asked Skull to go to Aloha’s apartment.

But there were too many variables. Too many questions. Who were all of the people mentioned in the journal? Who was the “she” mentioned in Aloha’s journal? 

He sighed. Why was it so hard to take care of his teammates? 

Wait… “she”? 

Skull looked around Aloha’s room. Was it possible that Aloha had a girlfriend?

“The cake’s ready~!” Aloha called out from the kitchen. Skull stopped his inspection, and tried to follow Aloha’s voice to get to the kitchen.

He ended up in the bathroom. Go figure.

He was really hoping that following Aloha’s voice would help him not get lost. Clearly, that did not work, and now Skull was awkwardly standing in someone else’s bathroom.

“Aloha, I’m lost.” He called out. He heard a sigh.

“Where did you end up? My apartment isn’t that big, it’s three rooms!” 

“Bathroom.” 

Silence, and then footsteps. A moment later, Aloha was standing at the doorway of the bathroom.

“How did you end up… nevermind. I forgot about your horrible directional skills.” Aloha looked to the side, and then smiled. “Let’s eat the cake!”

Skull followed Aloha to the kitchen. The cake was sitting on the counter.

“Looks nice. Who made it?” Aloha took a seat on one of the stools. 

“A fan! He came up to me in the square. He was so nervous.” Aloha laughed. “He somehow knew what my favorite cake was.” 

Skull stood there for a moment, thinking.

“Aloha.” Aloha looked at him and leaned forward, setting his face on top of his hands.

“Yeah~?” 

“Do you mind if I invite Army and Mask too? I think they’d enjoy the cake too.” Aloha looked up at the ceiling. 

“Hmmm~ Sure!” Aloha said. Skull nodded, and sent a text to Mask and Army.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so basically:
> 
> skull finds alohas journal and aloha basically has a lot of self doubt issues.
> 
> also, blood.
> 
> i wrote skull as a very smart person who can put things together. i feel like skull is really smart. he didn't put everything together, though, so alohas safe for now.
> 
> for now.


	4. cake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The S4 eats cake.
> 
> Also Aloha dodges questions about him like he dodges attacks in turf war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi so theres a section with a very small mention/weird interpretation of suicide/selfharm. i will mark it. this section also has spiraling. again, i will mark it.
> 
> honestly, just be careful with this whole chapter.
> 
> i have to add more tags now, give me a minute or two
> 
> i stg i need to stop writing these chapters when im big sad

candyskull: Can you guys come to Aloha’s apartment?

haymask: y

candyskull: There’s cake.

haymask: …

haymask: k. heading over.

curry boi: Aloha’s apartment? Sure.

candyskull: …

candyskull: I also need your help to make sure Aloha is okay.

curry boi: What do you mean?

candyskull: I found something…

candyskull: concerning.

curry boi: THAT WASN’T HELPFUL SKULL

candyskull: Just come over, okay?

“They’re coming.” Skull turned off his phone and shoved it in his pocket. He sat down. Aloha leaned on one arm.

“Cool~!” Skull looked at him and sighed. He just couldn’t get that page out of his mind.

Aloha crossed his arms in front of him. “What’s wrong?”

A lot of things. Aloha just wasn’t telling Skull what was wrong. 

Skull looked at him, and looked down. “Aloha…”

“Yeah?” Aloha looked at the counter. Skull sighed again.

Here goes nothing.

“Do you… have a girlfriend?” Aloha snapped his head up rapidly.

Skull was sure he had hit the nail on the head, until he saw the confused look on Aloha’s face.

“No… I never have. Why?” Skull shook his head.

He was wrong, and now he had to cover up his blunder.

“It’s nothing. Just a random question.” Aloha looked suspicious.

“Skull. I don’t believe you. Why are you asking?” Aloha’s voice was cold.

Weird. Skull had never heard his friend’s voice get that cold.

“It was just a random question that popped into my brain. That’s all.” Aloha shook his head.

“I still don’t believe you.” Skull shrugged.

“Well, if you don’t believe me, it’s not my loss.” Aloha seemed to suddenly “switch”, and then he spoke again.

“What? Are you trying to see if I’m available~?” Aloha teased.

What? Just a moment ago, Aloha’s voice had been cold as ice. Now he was just teasing Skull like nothing had even happened?

“No, Aloha.” He was trying to see what was wrong, so he could help fix it.

  
  
  
  
  


They sat in silence for a moment.

“Do you like guys, Aloha?” Aloha was startled by the question.

Crap. What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t tell Skull.

“Do you?” Aloha countered. Hopefully that would throw Skull off.

“Yeah. I do.” Skull answered. Aloha was caught off guard by this straightforward answer.

No one had ever been this upfront with him before. 

“Have you had a boyfriend before?” Aloha asked in curiosity. 

I mean, to be honest, Aloha was still trying to throw Skull off of this train of thought, but he was kind of curious. 

“…Yeah. It didn’t go well.” Skull looked away. “I’ll ask again. Do you like guys?”

Crap crap crap crap crap.

Aloha was panicking. It didn’t work. He really didn’t want to tell anyone, even if it was Skull. He was glad that Skull was gay, since that probably meant he would be supportive. But… the last time he had thought someone was supportive, he got thrown out.

Too bad. Lying time!

“Uh… no. I like girls. Sucks that I’ve never had a girlfriend. It could always happen, though! I have a lot of fans~!” Skull looked suspicious again.

“Aloha…” Skull was about to say something else when there was a knock on the door. Aloha sprang up from his stool and went to open the door. 

Nope. Nope nope nope. He was not going to have this conversation with Skull. Not here, not now.

Aloha practically tore open the door. Mask was standing there, and looked slightly startled.

“Uh… Alooohaaa?” Aloha gave him a wide grin. 

“Huh! And here I thought that you weren’t gonna come, Masky~!” Mask scowled.

“Dooon’t caaall me thaaaaat.” Mask pushed past Aloha into the kitchen.

“Army’s going to be late. He says to start without him.” Skull said. Aloha turned around, closing the door.

Well, he was gonna just serve the cake and hope for the best.

“Okay~” Aloha walked back to the kitchen and sat down again. He took a small stack of paper plates, and started serving the cake.

Huh. The box even had small forks. How convenient.

Who was that little octoling? How did he somehow know what Aloha’s favorite cake was and that he would need forks?

Creepy. Creepy but helpful.

“Here ya go~!” He handed the plates of cake to Skull and Mask.

Mask stared at his phone as he slowly started to eat the cake. Skull, on the other hand, stared off into the distance while he ate.

Aloha was just hoping that nothing bad would happen. He really just didn’t want to lose them because of how horrible he was.

There was another knock a couple minutes later. Aloha got up, and opened the door to see a very disgruntled Army.

Aloha stared at him, and wondered what had happened to Army. He looked… 

“Hello Aloha. I apologize for being late.” Army said. Aloha smiled at him, pushing his thoughts away.

“It’s fine. Come in, eat some cake!” Army entered the apartment and Aloha closed the door behind him. They went to the kitchen, and Aloha served Army a plate of cake.

A couple of minutes passed. As the minutes passed, Aloha felt more and more anxious by the silence. Finally, Army spoke up, breaking the silence.

“Aloha? Are you going to eat the cake?” Aloha looked up.

“Oh, I’m not hungry.” Skull looked towards Aloha.

“Aloha, you haven’t eaten all day.” Aloha was trying to supress his panic.

“I know. I’m still not hungry.” He was a little hungry, but the thought of the rest of the S4 seeing him eat was disturbing. They’d probably think he was disgusting. 

Mask finally looked up. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but he looked at Aloha and closed his mouth.

Good. At least he didn’t have to deal with Mask tattling on him. Yet.

Silence.

“Thiiis caaaake is gooood.” Mask said, looking at the cake box. “Whaaaat baaakery is it frooooom?” Aloha was thankful for the subject change.

“Oh, a fan made it for me. Good, right?” Mask nodded. Aloha grinned.

“Aloha, we should probably tell you that we made plans to participate in the next championship. Are you available?” Army said, looking through a manual. Aloha thought for a moment.

Was he available? The competition wasn’t until the end of the month. He couldn’t remember making any plans.

“Yeah! Sounds fun!” Army wrote something down.

“Good. Then everyone here can participate. We should practice this weekend.”

Crap.

Aloha paled. Army turned to Aloha. “What’s wrong, Aloha?”

“I, uh… don’t think I can do this weekend.” Army raised an eyebrow.

“Why?” Aloha rubbed his arms. 

He could lie, or he could tell the truth. 

Or… he could tell a half-truth. Yeah. That would be better.

“I already had plans to hang out with Scuba.” Aloha laughed nervously. Army stared at him, but then nodded understandably.

“Okay. So next Wednesday?” Aloha, Mask, and Skull nodded. “Alright. Wednesday.”

Holy… that worked.

Aloha got up, shaking a little. “I’ll be right back. I gotta use the bathroom.”

He needed to get away from them. He had to make sure he didn’t slip up any more times.

  
  
  
  
  


“So. Did anyone else notice that?” Skull spoke up. Aloha had already gone to the bathroom, and it was just Skull, Mask, and Army.

“Noootice whaaaat?” Mask was playing something on his phone.

“He seemed nervous.” Skull said.

“Aaaand?” Mask kept tapping his phone.

“I was talking to him before you both arrived. I also got a chance to look at his room. His apartment’s a mess. He had a journal hidden under his blankets.”

Army seemed interested now. “A journal? What was in it?”

“That’s the thing. It was mostly blank. I found one page that had stuff on it, but it was… disturbing. I think he… has something going on that he’s not telling us about.” A small noise came from Mask’s direction, but when Skull turned, he was still tapping his phone idly. He decided to keep speaking.

“Something is seriously wrong. It’s bad, and Aloha doesn’t want to tell us about it.” Army shook his head.

“You’re talking about Aloha as if he was mentally ill.” Army crossed his arms. “And you’re being very dodgy about this journal you found, Skull.” Army stood up. “Why? Why are you keeping this from us? We care about him too, Skull. Mask might not express it well,” Mask made a noise of disagreement. “but he cares too. I know you’re trying to help him, but for cod’s sake, just tell us what’s _wrong_.” Skull sighed.

“I just… don’t want him to walk in on this. That’s all. I’ll talk to you about it later.”

“Who are you guys talking about?” Aloha was back, walking back to his seat and sitting down.

“One of my teammates. You remember Aviators, right?” Skull tried to come up with a good lie. “He’s been… having trouble getting around lately, and I’m just worried about him.

  
  
  
  
  


**(skip if you're uncomfy with spiraling and self harm/suicide)**

He was lying. It was obvious. Everyone was avoiding direct eye contact with Aloha.

They must have been talking about him. They must have been talking about how much they hated him.

He shouldn’t have let them in. He wasn’t safe.

He had gone to his room. He knew.

Skull had seen his journal. He was going to tell everyone.

He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t let this happen.

They were going to hurt him. They were going to destroy him. 

It felt like he was getting smaller and smaller.

He wouldn’t let them destroy him. 

He would destroy himself first.

Aloha could feel himself spiraling into a void of deep, dark thoughts.

He hadn’t taken his pills this morning.

But it was too late now. 

Too late.

**(end of uncomfy section)**   
  
  
  
  


Aloha had been quiet for a bit now. Skull could see him shaking a little.

“Aloha? Are you okay?” He reached out to touch Aloha’s shoulder. Aloha snapped back to attention.

“Is everyone done with the cake? Great! I’ll put it away.” Aloha started to put the cake away.

What had just happened? No, scratch that, what was happening? Aloha’s regular demeanor seemed to flicker into a more… quiet and maybe a little crazy demeanor that Skull had never seen before on his friend.

Something was really wrong.

“Well, I have to leave soon, so I have to kick all of you out now.” Aloha stood in front of the counter.

Mask got up without a sound, and slipped out of the apartment. Army gathered his things, and looked at Skull. Skull stood up, and walked out of the apartment. Army followed. The door slammed shut behind him.

Army put a hand on Skull’s shoulder. “We need to talk. Now. All of us.” He motioned to Mask, who was standing at the end of the hallway, staring at them.

Skull nodded. “Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> congrats, youve made it.
> 
> wanna make a guess as to who the "she" is?


	5. aloha doesnt like his mom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha's mother comes for a "lovely" visit.
> 
> Just kidding, Aloha suffers more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lordy this is a long chapter.
> 
> 2000+ words.
> 
> i just wanna say: thanks to uwu for commenting on some of the chapters. it's nice to know that people enjoy this.
> 
> WARNING FOR: homophobia, racism, panic attack, and mentions of an eating disorder. Aloha's mother is the definition of a bad parent, and is the reason for all of the warnings in this chapter. THE ENTIRE CHAPTER IS LIKE THIS UNTIL THE BOLDED AND ITALICIZED (END OF ALL UNCOMFY). THE FIRST BOLDED THING IS THE START OF A SECTION WITH A LOT OF PANIC.

Aloha slammed the door closed, and sighed.

They were gone. He could breathe now.

He locked the door. He was glad that he had gotten rid of them, because his mother was coming in fifteen minutes.

His mother. He hadn’t seen her in months, and she suddenly texts him during lunch on Monday, telling him that she was coming for a visit. 

It was Friday. He looked at his bedroom door. 

He needed to clean. Aloha decided to start with his room. It was possibly the messiest room in the house, and he needed to hide some things. 

Like the journal.

_ Cod, _ that stupid  _ journal.  _ He should’ve hid it better. Now Skull knew. He knew, and he was going to tell.

Aloha started to clean up. After a few minutes, Aloha had cleaned almost all of his room, and was tidying up his bed. He found the journal again, and held it up.

He was ruined. Skull would tell... him, and he’d be disgusted with him. He’d hate Aloha forever. He’d never get to have a pleasant conversation with him ever again. He’d never have a pleasant conversation with  _ anyone _ again. 

Not even his own team. Cod, he missed Team Pink. He should play turf war with them some time. It was so much fun to play with them. 

He was glad that he was at least going to see Scuba this weekend. 

He stared back down at the journal. Where was he going to hide it? He glanced towards his closet, where his weapon case was sitting.

His weapon case. That’s it! Aloha would hide the journal in the weapon case. He stuffed the journal in his weapon case. 

Perfect. The doorbell rang. Aloha gulped. He took a deep breath, and gently opened the door.

“Oh look, it’s my little son!” Oh cod.

His mother was a tall inkling, with her long pink tentacles tied in a low bun. Her eyes were a piercing ice blue, and Aloha couldn’t help but shiver.

“Hi, mom.” Aloha stepped aside to let her in.

She gave him a disapproving glare. “Your hairstyle got even worse. First that ponytail, and now  _ this _ ?” Aloha looked down, trying not to look at her. “You look even more like one of those gay people. Horrible people. Almost as bad as those octolings.” Aloha’s mother walked into the apartment. “I can’t believe they’re letting those octolings on the surface. Evil, evil species they are.” Aloha thought back to the octoling from the square.

That poor octoling looked so nervous. He hadn’t looked evil. If anything, he had looked haunted, like he had seen horrible things.

“Son. You will look at me when I’m speaking.” Aloha looked back up.

“Yes mom.” She sighed, and started to walk around his apartment.

“What is this book on your counter?” Aloha froze.

Oh no.

Had Army left one of his manuals here?

“There’s bits of paper sticking out. Is this how you treat your books? What is it even about?” Aloha quickly grabbed the manual. It was, in fact, Army’s.

“It’s a uh… manual. It’s my teammate’s.” She raised an eyebrow.

“A manual? For what?”

“I uh… don’t actually know. He has a lot.” As soon as he saw his mother’s face, he knew he messed up.

“A male teammate? Are you really teammates, or is this boy a boyfriend?” Aloha waved his hands.

“No no no, I don’t have a boyfriend.” It was the truth, at least.

“Are you lying to me?” His mother’s voice got louder.

“No! I’m really not!”

“Oh really? Then you wouldn’t mind if I read this manual?” She grabbed the manual from him. Aloha just stood there.

She opened the manual, and bits of paper fell out everywhere. “Pick them up!” Aloha nodded, and started to pick them up.

He read some of the bits of paper. Oh thank goodness. It was a curry manual.

“So your ‘teammate’ makes curry?” Aloha nodded rapidly. “Hm.” She flipped through the pages. “Your name is in here.” Aloha looked up.

“Wait, it is?” Aloha’s mother dropped the book on his head. Ow.

“Read it yourself.” Aloha sat down, and started flipping.

Oh.

Oh no.

It was a couple of pages about him. Mostly, it was just battle stats, but as he read on, there were a couple of notes.

_ Didn’t talk much during meeting today. Ask him later if he’s okay. _

_ Haven’t seen him in the Square much lately. Ask him about it. _

_ Says he didn’t put balloons in my room. Seemed distressed. Ask later. _

There were at least ten notes of that sort on the pages. It also had a lot of his favorite foods and drinks, his favorite stages, and his favorite hangout spots.

For a moment, Aloha was a little creeped out, but then he remembered that it was Army, and Army was very thorough in his notes.

He kept flipping, and sure enough, there was pages about the other S4 members. He decided not to read them, though, and just closed the manual.

“Well?” She crossed her arms. Aloha gave her a confused look. What did she want him to say? She sighed again. “This ‘teammate’ of yours seems to have a lot of information about you.”

“He’s a very thorough person.” Aloha was really just going to try getting her to stop asking about Army. Or anyone in the rest of the S4. He couldn't bear the thought of the rest of the S4 getting hurt because of him.

Oh _cod_. He felt sick.

“Why would he even need that much information?” Honestly, that was a good question. Aloha was pretty sure it was because Army would go insane not knowing all of that information. His theory was definitely backed up by Army’s battle with Team Blue.

“He’s our battle strategist. He’s very good at it.” Yeah, that was a good answer.

“Why would he need information about your favorite foods for a battle strategy?” Oh, right, Army wrote that down too. 

What was Aloha supposed to say? He decided to just state his theory.

“He’s kind of… uh… he goes a little crazy when he doesn’t have information.”

Wait a minute. Army also made curries with random ingredients. Aloha could remember most of the culinary disasters. His stomach churned thinking about it.

Cake curry. Oh cod. The horrified look on Skull’s face was forever ingrained into Aloha’s memory.

Look, his memory may be horrible, but he really couldn’t forget this.

“He also makes random curries out of people’s favorite foods.” His mother looked disinterested for a moment, but then her face turned to one of disgust.

“He makes curries out of your favorite foods? You said you weren’t dating him, but he makes you curry out of your favorite foods?” Aloha’s mother was yelling. Aloha flinched. “Are you lying to me?!”

“N-no, I’m not! He’s just my teammate! I swear!” He wanted to curl up into a ball. His mother's voice was so _loud_.

She nodded. “Good. I don’t want a gay son. You did tell me that your preferences changed, right?” Aloha nodded.

Right. He had said that. He forgot about that conversation.

Wow. He was such a liar.

“So how has everything been?”

Really crappy, no thanks to his mother.

“I’ve been doing fine.”

Well, he hadn’t really been eating well, but it was fine. He wasn’t hungry anyways.

Oh right. He forgot about his sleep schedule. He had a horrible sleep schedule.

“I’m staying in Inkopolis for a couple of days. I’ll be over to check on you.”

Crap. How long would she be here?

“What day are you leaving?”

“Thursday.” Oh no. Oh no.

He had practice on Wednesday. He couldn’t let her see him with the rest of the S4.

“Alright.” Aloha’s mother gave him a disapproving glare.

“I can always stay longer. If I see you with a boy, you will be punished.”

You know how you think things can’t possibly get worse, and they proceed to get worse?

Yeah. Aloha was panicking. He really couldn’t let his mother go to his practice.

“I’m going surfing with one of my teammates from Team Pink tomorrow. He’s a good guy.”

“You aren’t dating him, right?” Aloha shook his head.

“He’s in a relationship with someone else right now.” Not a lie. Scuba was dating Aviators. 

His mom nodded. “Good. Then you can go.” Aloha internally sighed in relief. One disaster averted.

“Oh! I brought you some food.” She held out a bag. Aloha’s body went rigid. 

He didn’t want to eat food. He couldn’t get any heavier. He had to make his mom proud of him. 

“I had food already, I don’t need any. But thank you.” Aloha’s mother gave him a glare.

“I only brought you salads, anyways. You can’t just eat fast food all the time. You’re already fat. You need to eat less.”

Hah. Funny joke. 

“Okay.” Aloha grabbed the bag, and went over to the fridge to shove the bag in. 

“Aloha. I’m going to go now. I’ll be back to check on you.” Aloha’s mom left the apartment.

**(panic time, skip if uncomfy)**

As soon as she had left, Aloha sunk to the floor, crying and clutching his sides. It was like the sound of the door closing had finally snapped something in him.

Snapped the remaining amount of control he had over himself.

After a couple of minutes, Aloha screamed. “I’m not good enough for her!” He clutched his head in his hands. “I’ll never be good enough for her. I’ll never be good enough. I’ll never be good enough.  _ I’ll never be good enough. _ ”

His stomach hurt. His heart hurt. His brain tried to reach out for something,  _ anything _ , to latch onto for help. 

His pills. He needed to take his pills before anything else got worse please someone-

“Help-” He croaked.

But nobody came.

He started to crawl towards his bathroom. If he could get the pills, maybe he would feel a little better.

He wanted to feel better. He couldn’t control his emotions anymore. 

He finally got to his bathroom counter, and pulled himself up. He swayed a little as he stood. His hands clumsily reached for the bottle that was in the medicine cabinet. He twisted the cap off, and it fell to the ground. He didn’t care. He tried to shake a pill into his hand, but it wouldn’t come out.

“Come on… please. Please please please-” He hit the bottle against his hand so hard that the pills flew out and scattered onto the floor. Somehow, most of the pills ended up in his toilet.

“Son of a squid!” He screeched. He couldn’t take them now. He dropped down on the floor, hoping that there was at least one pill he could salvage.

He could feel the small amount of determination from earlier begin to fade. What was the point? Most of the pills were unusable now anyways. Aloha sagged.

He wanted to sleep. He wanted to sleep and never wake up.

He closed his eyes.

  
_**(end of all uncomfy)** _  
  
  
  


Mask booted up his computer.

“I puuut a buuuug in Aloohaaa’s apaaartment.” He was typing on his laptop.

“Mask, can you take off your mask? We can barely hear you.” Army crossed his arm. Mask sighed, and took the gas mask off, replacing it with a flu mask. 

“Is this better?” Army nodded, and Mask went back to typing. “Like I was saying, I put a bug in Aloha’s apartment.” 

“A bug?” Skull muttered. “What kind? A roach?” 

They had only just gotten to Mask’s apartment, and he already wanted to throw them out. He already wasn’t comfortable with letting them in his apartment, and they were starting to tick him off. He was keeping his cool, because he didn’t want to damage the already fragile friendships he had.

“NO! A recorder. It’s a small recording device.” Mask yelled. Whoops. He messed up.

“Oh. Continue?” Mask sighed.

“So, hopefully, I can access the audio.” Mask pulled up a program on his computer. He turned up the volume, and scrolled back in time.

“That…” Army was trying to choke out a sentence, but it was failing miserably.

“Was a lot? Yeah.” Skull finished. Army nodded.

Army was trying to choke back the tears that threatened to break his serious composure. He was disgusted by the way Aloha’s mother spoke to him.

So much  _ fear _ . So much  _ hate _ . Army felt like he was going to throw up from all of the negative feelings. 

“What do we do?” Skull said quietly. 

“Is there anything we can do?” Mask said, folding his arms. “It really looks like this is out of our control. We clearly can’t get near him.” Mask and Skull turned towards Army. 

“Army. You’re our strategist. Do you have some kind of… strategy to deal with this?” Army looked up at Skull.

“No?” Army’s voice broke. “Why… would I prepare for this? I never thought this would happen.” He clutched his head. “I hoped this would never happen.” A single tear came down his face, and he closed his eyes.

  
  
  


It hurt Skull to see his teammates in such pain. Army was clearly trying his best to keep his composure, but there was only so much he could take. Mask wasn’t saying anything else. He just had his arms crossed, and his eyes were looking at his computer. He had put his gas mask back on after listening to the audio, and was tapping his foot rapidly.

Skull was pacing back and forth, trying to think of something.

He had to intervene.

He paced around for another couple of minutes. Mask pulled out his phone and started to tap.

Wait. That was it.

“I have an idea!” Skull exclaimed. Army looked up, and Mask jumped, and his phone flew up into the air. His hands fumbled as his phone fell. Mask groaned as the phone hit the floor.

“Weeeee’reee listeniiing.” Mask looked exhausted, more than usual. 

“We can do something. Here’s the plan…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> summary:  
> aloha's mother comes to visit, shames him for liking dudes. hates octolings. she informs him that she's staying until thursday (its friday) and aloha now has a dilemma. how can he practice with the rest of the s4 on wednesday?
> 
> okay so more info:
> 
> scuba and aviators are dating (look i think they're a cute pair, fite me.)
> 
> also, skull's favorite food is cake. army tried to make japanese curry with cake by replacing meat with pieces of cake.
> 
> skull was horrified, to say the least. 
> 
> aloha had taken like one bite, and then immediately regretted it. 
> 
> mask was real sick, so he avoided it.
> 
> if yall want an actual chapter about this particular scene, ill write it
> 
> so now you know who the "she" is. howdya feel?
> 
> hmm... i have an idea for what i can do next.
> 
> *evil laughter*
> 
> i know there was like one funny part in this chapter. it was a really serious chapter. i couldn't really put any funny things. i was writing this on and off today and yesterday because i just couldn't write this that well. so if this chapter sucks, m sorry.


	6. what is the point of a scuba mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha tells a story, Scuba listens.
> 
> Also, Scuba is the best wingman. 
> 
> And they go surfing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gonna double post give me a moment.
> 
> scuba's speech pattern was fun! it might not be an actual speech pattern, but as i was writing, i kept stopping to say his lines.
> 
> also, don't ask about the chat names, i was very tired when i made them.
> 
> aloha's speech pattern goes back to normal when he's not tired.
> 
> WARNING FOR HOMOPHOBIA, AND ALOHA'S MOM HITTING PEOPLE
> 
> THE STORY IS WHERE THIS TAKES PLACE.

Aloha was woken up by a buzzing in his pocket. “Uhhg…” He groaned. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

It was Scuba.

“‘ello?” He muttered. 

“‘ey, ‘loha! Just wanna make sure yer still comin’, right? Ya’ need help gettin’ up? Ya’ sound a lil’ tired.” Aloha groaned again.

“Actually, yeah. That’d be swell. Thanks Scub’.”

“No prob’, ‘loha. See ya’ in a few!” Scuba hung up the phone. Aloha put the phone down onto the ground. 

“I gotta get up, hah, now.” He sighed. His back really hurt. “I shouldn’ta slept on the floor.” His words slurred together. 

“Wha’ time is it…?” He stood up shakily and looked at his phone. 

11 AM. Not bad. Not good either.

He put his phone aside, and splashed some water on his face. “Ahh…” He sighed again. He felt slightly more awake now. He splashed some more water on his face. 

He looked at the mirror. He looked… horrible. There were dark bags under his eyes, and he looked pale. 

“Well. Tha’s not good.” Wasn’t like he could fix it though. Guess he’d go out surfing like this.

He stepped out into his hallway, and turned to go to his room to get a change of clothes. He grabbed an extra pair of his regular clothes, and went back into his bathroom. He picked up his phone and texted Scuba.

discovibes: takin a shower

discovibes: keys in the sam e place

discovibes: if m not out let urself in

divininlove: aight

divininlove: cool

divininlove: ya need food?

discovibes: actually

discovibes: thatd be gerat

discovibes: tahhks

He set his phone down and went into the shower.

“Hm… shower thoughts with Aloha.” He stood there as the water ran down his body. It felt nice. “I haven’t taken a shower in a coupla days.” He started cleaning himself up. “I wonder… if ink is our blood, are we just firing our blood at each other?” He grimaced. “I don’ like that thought.”

“Neither do I! Wha’ in fresh heck, ‘loha?” Oh. Scuba was here. Whoops.

“Sorry ‘bout that! Just woke up. Still tired.” Aloha called.

“Good thing I brought some coffee!” Oh, Scuba was his savior. 

“Thanks, Scub’!” He heard some noise of acknowledgement from outside of the bathroom.

He finished getting ready, and walked into his kitchen. 

Scuba was sitting at his counter, typing on his phone. He looked up at Aloha.

“mornin’ ‘loha!” He made a face. “Ya’ look pretty bad, man.” Aloha nodded.

“Yeah, I know.” Scuba put his phone away, and fully turned to face him. 

“Wan’ talk ‘bout it?” Aloha took a seat, and Scuba handed him a cup of coffee. 

“My mom’s here.” He mumbled, taking a sip of the coffee while looking down at the counter. 

Scuba leaned back in his seat. “Tha’ would explain it. Do ya’ need me ta’ do somethin’?” Aloha shook his head.

“Scuba. You’re my best bro. I can’t… I can’t put you in danger like this. I can’t put you in danger.” Scuba shook his head.

“Woah, woah. ‘loha. Wha’s happenin’? Why would I be in danger?”

Aloha sighed. “Not just you. Aviators too. I can’t do this to you two.”

Scuba smacked a hand on the counter. Aloha flinched at the sound. “’loha, listen. You’re my bes’ bro too. I care ‘bout ya’. Bu’ ya’ gotta tell me what’s wrong. I can’t jus’ let ya’ suffer like this. An’ ‘fore ya’ say anythin’ about ya’ not sufferin’, lemme just say that people’ve noticed. The rest of Pink Team’s noticed.” Scuba’s expression softened. “Jus’ tell me wha’s wrong, ‘loha. ‘m worried.”

Aloha stared at him. Scuba looked so  _ honest _ . He wanted to open up to him. He really wanted to.

Well, YOLO, Aloha thought dryly as he took another sip of coffee.

“Okay. Are ya’ really ready? It’s not gonna be a nice story.” Scuba nodded. Aloha took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. I’m going to tell you a story about a little kid named Aloha.”

**(warning for homophobia and aloha's mom hitting people)**

“When he was a kid, he was pretty shy, believe it or not. Totally uncool. Didn’ talk to anyone. Just went about his life, keepin’ his head down. A quiet kid, who just whimpered when you yelled at him for somethin’ he didn’t do. He had no friends. He didn’ see the point.”

“His mom didn’t like that though. “Go and talk to people! If you don’t talk to anyone, you’ll be alone forever.” So the kid went out to talk to people. He found people he liked to hang out with. He became more social, and became happy.”

“I was stupid to think it’d last forever.” Aloha’s face darkened.

“He came home one day, and told his mother he had fallen in love.” Aloha fell silent. Scuba just sat there, listening.

“He told his mother that he had fallen in love with a boy.” Aloha felt strangely empty. He knew he should feel sad, but he just couldn’t.

“Everythin’ fell apart. His mom just yelled at him, slung insults at his face, beat him until there were bruises all over his body. He couldn’t even fight back. He laid there, wonderin’ if he really was a mistake, if it really was wrong to love a boy. He cried and cried for his mother to stop, just stop it hurt please stop stop it stop it stop it-” Aloha stopped to pull himself together. Scuba had this serious look on his face.

“It’s okay, ‘loha. Jus’ continue when you can.” Aloha nodded mutely.

After he had somewhat gotten himself under control, he continued.

“He couldn’t take it anymore. All’a the pressure just was too much. The kid moved away from home, and became one of the top four turf war players. He was happy again. His team was amazing, and his friends were great.” Scuba smiled at that. “But then…”

“The boy’s mom comes back. She texts him, apologizing, asking if he had stopped liking boys. The boy was so scared of getting hurt that he lied. He said yes.” The smile that was present on Scuba’s face just seconds before was gone.

“He developed another crush on a boy. He was a light in the darkness of the boy’s life. His angel, ya’ could say. The boy was conflicted. Was this wrong? Would he get everyone hurt? He didn’ want ta’ hurt anyone.”

**(end of that)**

“And now we’re here. My mom’s back for a ‘visit’, and ‘m scared.” Aloha sipped his coffee. Scuba was silent for a moment, folding his arms.

“’loha.”

“Yeah?” Oh no. This was a mistake, wasn’t it?

“Who’s the dude?” Aloha blinked.

“Huh?”

“The guy ya’ got the hots for. Who’s the lucky man?” Aloha was blinking rapidly.

“I… uh… what?”

“’m jus’ gon’ guess. Is it drill sargent?” Aloha blushed. “Yup. Knew it.”

“I, uh… have another problem.”

“Wha’s the pro’lem?”

“I might have another crush too. I don’ know.” He murmured. Scuba looked surprised.

“Who?”

Aloha sighed. “I don’ know yet, but maybe Skull an’ Mask? I don’ know.” He whispered, tapping the table. “I don’ have a chance, though.”

“Why?”

“Army seems ta’ hate me. Mask likes Bobble, and Skull is a brick wall when it comes ta’ emotions.” Scuba nodded.

“Tha’s a pro’lem.” Scuba tapped his head. “Hmm…”

“Should we go and surf? We did plan ta’ do it, and I wanna look fresh at the beach.” Aloha leaned on one elbow, flipping his hair and looking straight at Scuba. Scuba stared for a moment, before bursting into laughter.

“There’s the ‘loha I know! Yeah, le’s go.” Scuba got up, and they started heading for the beach.

  
  
  


“So. Who d’ya’ think’ll take yer confession the bes’?” Scuba had his arms behind his head, and was looking at the road ahead.

Aloha shrugged. “I wanna say Skull, but I’m not sure. Mask would prolly just laugh at me. Army would yell at me.” He froze.

Oh squid.

He had one of Army’s manuals. He could already imagine the yelling that he'd get from the shorter S4 member.

“Wha’s wrong?” Aloha slowly turned his head to Scuba, feeling a little faint.

“I have one of Army’s manuals. He came over yesterday, and left it at my place. My mom found it.” Scuba frowned.

“Tha’s not good. Wha’ was in the manual?”

“Oh you know, random and specific facts about everyone in the S4, stuff like that. Freaked my mum out. Asked if he was my boyfriend, fun stuff like that.” Scuba was silent again.

“Why does he have tha’ much info on ya’?” Aloha shrugged.

“Beats me. I would ask, but I don’t wanna get yelled at.”

“’loha, ya’ gotta be more confident. Drill sargent won’ do anythin’ bad. If he does…” Scuba’s voice turned cold. “I’ll kill ‘im.”

Aloha waved his hands frantically. “No, no, no, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be… fine.”

“Yer my bes’ bro. Gotta look out for ya’.” Aloha nodded.

“Yeah. Thanks Scub’.” They continued walking.

“Hmm… it’s been a while since I’ve been surfing! I got caught up in all of those championships.” Aloha was trying to remember the championships.

There was the one that led him to meeting Blue Team.

Oh cod. Goggles and Specs’ stupid sync power. He had forgotten about it. His face turned to one of embarrassment. He had really underestimated them.

“Hey Scub’, remember the first time we fought Blue Team?” Scuba was silent for a moment, but then started laughing.

“‘course I do! Ya’ fell in the pool!” Scuba chuckled. Aloha started laughing too. 

“That was totally unfresh of me. I didn’t expect that ‘stupid sync power’!” 

“The party after was real fun too!” Scuba exclaimed.

“Yeah. Goggles dragged Specs into the pool. Specs was kicking and screaming.” The pair started laughing again.

There was that other championship.

The Square King Cup.

He remembered Emperor just standing over him and the rest of the S4.

_ “You will never beat the king. You all are worthless.” _ He could remember the coldness of the king’s voice, and how his words sunk into his brain. They played on loop, over and over, until he could hear his mother’s voice yelling at him again.

He couldn’t remember walking off the map. All he could remember was just this numb feeling as the words repeated over and over again. The next sensation he felt after that was pain in his face as he walked straight into a stop sign.

_ “Did you just walk into a stop sign?” Army asked. _

_ Mask turned to Aloha. “Woooow. Youuu seriouslyyy walked intooo a stoooop siiiign.” _

_ Skull was silent. _

_ “I’m fine! Wasn’t paying attention.” Aloha rubbed his face and gave a sheepish smile. _

_ “Cleeeaaaarlyy.” Mask looked away. _

Scuba tapped his shoulder.

“’ey, we’re here.” Aloha looked back up.

“The beach! My happy place… lets go! Surfing time!” Scuba laughed, and they went to go surfing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor aloha man
> 
> i don't actually like this chapter. 
> 
> oh well too late uhm.
> 
> ah yes, aloha slamming his face into a stop sign. is it cannon? no. i love the thought of it though. 
> 
> oh right. i had to read through the chapter again to remember what i wanted to write here.
> 
> yes, im doin the s4 ship.
> 
> im trying to edit the chapters to make this work.
> 
> this is gonna be hard to write.
> 
> oh lord here we go


	7. aviators is learning to play the ukulele for scuba

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skull and Aviators have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is really short.
> 
> if you're wondering about the title, ill explain it in the end notes.
> 
> i actually typed some of this with my eyes closed, which is where that typo came from.

_ Two hours before... _

candyskull: Hey, Aviators, can you do me a favor?

avidlyloving: what’s up?

candyskull: …

candyskull: Did you change your username?

avidlyloving: yes. 

avidlyloving: what do you need?

candyskull: Can you ask Scuba to check on Aloha?

candyskull: I know they’re hanging out today.

avidlyloving: sure.

avidlyloving: why didn’t you just ask scuba directly?

avidlyloving: you have his phone number.

candyskull: I was afraid that he would tell Aloha.

avidlyloving: skull, what are you doing?

avidlyloving: why would you be afraid that scuba would tell aloha?

candyskull: Aloha’s been acting… strange lately. We have some evidence that he might be in a bit of trouble.

avidlyloving: trouble? what do you mean by that?

candyskull: We aren’t sure.

candyskull: Please, Avi.

candyskull: I’m really worried.

avidlyloving: i already texted him.

avidlyloving: he was confuded, but he said sure.

candyskull: confuded?

avidlyloving: …

avidlyloving: i can’t see the keys, skull.

avidlyloving: confused.

avidlyloving: there.

avidlyloving: that better?

candyskull: So it’s getting worse?

avidlyloving: i guess.

avidlyloving: its fine.

avidlyloving: i can still turf. 

avidlyloving: i can just use the sounds to navigate.

avidlyloving: i did it before, i can do it again.

avidlyloving: don’t worry about me, skull.

candyskull: I’m still worried about you, Avi. You are my teammate.

avidlyloving: i know.

avidlyloving: i’ve accepted that its not getting better. 

avidlyloving: i gotta just keep living my life.

avidlyloving: good luck with your investigation.

avidlyloving: let me know if you need anything else.

candyskull: I will.

candyskull: Thank you, Avi.

Skull put his phone down. “The plan is in motion.” Mask had passed out, so only Army looked up, and nodded from his place on the couch. 

"Good. It's our turn now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, scuba and avi have matching chat names.
> 
> scuba was like "hey i have an idea lets have matching chat names" and avi was like "okay sure"
> 
> if you're wondering how aviators can text, he memorized where the keys were. he still spells stuff wrong all the time despite this. 
> 
> he has a setting on his phone that reads his texts to him.
> 
> also. aviators really wanted to learn an instrument. since scuba really likes the ukulele, he's been learning how to play it. its been a long process of trial and error, though. since he cant exactly see what he's doing. he's tryin real hard though, because he wants to show that he can still do a lot of things despite the visual impairment


	8. headphones is normal, and then becomes scary.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha and Scuba have a run-in with Aloha's mom.
> 
> Aloha's mom starts yelling, and Aloha runs away only to bump into Mask.
> 
> Chaos ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: bad thoughts, homophobia, mentions of parent death, mentions of abuse. Also Aloha's mother is a pushy person. Also Mask curses a whole lot.
> 
> okay so i woke up one day and checked this fic and oh my cod THANK YOU for 200 reads. i never thought that this fic would get this far. this is the most updated fic i have (i think)
> 
> this chapter was hard to write, purely because i had a whole day where my brain was like 'now what?'
> 
> anyways, hope y'all enjoy.

Aloha and Scuba were heading back to Aloha’s apartment.

“That was fun!” Aloha stretched. 

Scuba laughed. “Yeah, didja see the look on tha’ girl’s face when I flicked ‘er in the nose?” Aloha nodded, laughing. 

“Her eyes lit up and she froze in shock.”

“Yeah!” Scuba laughed.

“And then she punched you in the nose.” Aloha gave him a teasing smile.

Scuba gave him a glare. “Yeah…” The tension rose a little, and then the two burst into laughter.

“She looked so mor’ified! Poor girl.” 

As Scuba laughed, Aloha started feeling… sad. 

He didn’t deserve to have Scuba as a friend. Scuba was a good person, and he wasn’t. He was just tainting Scuba.

“‘ey ‘loha. Ya’ there?” Scuba was waving a hand in front of his face. 

“Huh? Uh, yeah, sorry man.”

Scuba frowned. “‘loha. Do ya’ needa stay at me an’ Avi’s place for the night?” 

No. If he wasn’t home in the morning, his mom would freak. 

“Nah, I’m good.” Scuba raised his eyebrows. 

“‘loha, are ya’ sure yer okay fer’ tonight? ‘m worried.” Aloha nodded.

“I’ll be fine, Scuba!” Aloha waved his hands. “You should get back to Aviators. I’m sure that-” He felt a tap on his shoulder. He jumped. 

“Hello, son.” Crap. His mother was here. Scuba’s face was thankfully neutral. Although… Aloha knew his friend well enough that he could tell that Scuba was really uncomfortable.

“So who is this?” Aloha rubbed his arm.

“This is Scuba. He’s the one I went surfing with today.” His mother smiled.

“Oh, the one with the girlfriend?” Aloha nodded jerkily, giving Scuba a look. Aloha’s mother nodded, and then turned to Scuba. 

“So what is she like? Your girlfriend.” Scuba rubbed his neck.

“Well, she’s real quiet. She’s serious.” Oh thank cod. Scuba had his back. Aloha could tell that Scuba was really uncomfortable, because his hands were shaking a little.

  
  


“She sounds very nice. What does she look like?” Aloha could see Scuba’s hand twitch.

“Well, she’s got ‘er ‘air pulled back. She wears it inna bun.”

“What else?”

“She wears ‘hese sunglasses. They’re real pretty.”

“All of the time?” Scuba crossed his arms. Aloha could tell that he was getting more and more uncomfortable.

“Uh, mos’ly. She don’ like ta’ take ‘em off.” Aloha’s mom raised her eyebrows.

“Not even at home? Why doesn’t she take them off?”

“She don’ like people lookin’ at ‘er.” 

“Why?” Aloha wanted to step in and break up this conversation, but… his mom would yell at him.

“She jus’ don’ like it. I dunno how else ta’ say it.” Aloha’s mother crossed her arms and started tapping her foot.

Aloha did not like where this was going. He knew why Scuba was avoiding the question, and he was right to do it. He wasn’t sure exactly how his mom felt about visual impairments, but he knew that his mom believed that inklings had to be perfect to be superior.

Huh. He answered his own question.

“But why? There must be a reason.”

“She don’ like people lookin’ at ‘er face.”

“Are you going to give me a straight answer?” Aloha’s mother said coldly.

“Look ma’am, I don’ know. She hasn’t tol’ me, an’ ‘m fine wi’h ‘er not tellin’. She can ‘ave ‘er own secrets.” He shrugged. “‘loha, ‘m gonna go. Catch ya later.” He waved.

Aloha felt his stomach drop, but he waved back. Scuba gave him this kind of hand gesture that Aloha recognized as ‘I’ll text ya ‘bout it’. Aloha sighed in relief.

Once Scuba was gone, his mom spoke.

“So this is your teammate? He was very dodgy with my questions. Have you met this girl?” 

Aloha nodded uneasily. 

“Well, why does she wear sunglasses all the time?”

Aloha shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s none of my buisness.” His mom looked annoyed.

“Fine. Don’t tell me.” She looked away from him. “Hold on…” His mother’s face twisted into one of disgust and anger. “Why the shell are you people kissing in public? Don’t spread your gayness elsewhere!” Aloha slowly turned to see a startled Headphones and smiling Bobble sitting at a table.

“I’m sorry? A-are you talking to us?” Headphones stuttered. Aloha’s mother sighed impatiently.

“Yes, I’m talking to you. Get your gay trash out of public areas.” She was yelling now, and Aloha tried to back away.

“We aren’t trash! We’re just being happy!” Bobble laughed. How did she do that? She was always so positive all the time. He was jealous of that.

“Are you laughing at me? You little devil. Where are your parents? Why aren’t they stopping this?” 

Bobble tilted her head. “Why would they stop us? We aren’t doing anything wrong. This is fun! And I love Headphones a lot! I love spending time with her!” Bobble grabbed one of Headphones’s hands and raised their hands up. “You’re being mean! Why should we do what you say?” Bobble laughed.

It was then that Headphones noticed Aloha trying to walk away. She gave him a questioning look, and he tried to signal to her.

He was trying to signal ‘please don’t say anything’. Headphones nodded and looked back at Aloha’s mom.

“Ma’am, I don’t understand why this is bad. We’re just two people in a relationship. We’re just two people dating.” Aloha stopped.

“Wait what?” He muttered to himself in surprise. They were dating? “But that means… oh.”

Mask didn’t have a chance with Bobble. 

As he walked away from the scene, his mind tried to work through this new information.

So Bobble was dating Headphones. That meant Mask couldn’t date Bobble. He felt… kind of bad for him. He really wanted Mask to be happy.

He just wished  _ he _ could be the one to make him happy.

“That’s not gonna happen. I’m being stupid.”

“Whaaaat areee youuu taaaalking abouuut?” Mask was standing in front of him. Aloha jumped back in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Aloha tried to stay calm.

Mask tilted his head. “I liiive here Alooooohaaaa.” Aloha looked around. Oh. This was Mask’s street.

“Ah. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Cleeearlyyy.” They stood there awkwardly.

“Hey, Masky?” 

“Whaaat.”

“Bobble and Headphones are dating.” Mask nodded.

“I knooow. I heeelped theeeem geeet togeeeether.” Aloha looked up.

“Wait what?”

Mask rolled his eyes. “I’m noooot in looove with Bobbleeee. I waaas helping Heaaadphooones. Thaaat’s whyyy I didn’t waaaant you to teeeell.”

“Oh.” Aloha said dumbly.

“I’m alreaaaadyy in aaa relaaationshiiiip.” 

“Oh.” What? He was? This was the first he’s heard this.

“Yeaaaah.” Mask looked a little uncomfortable.

_ I can’t make him happy. _

He felt rooted to the spot. He didn’t know what to do or say. 

Everything was out of his control.

His head was starting to feel fuzzy. He could hear sounds, but he couldn't make any of them out. He closed his eyes. Maybe he could hear better if he just closed his eyes.

“-loooohaaa? Aaaare youuu- ?” Huh. He still couldn’t hear Mask very well. What was he asking? He could feel Mask shake his shoulders.

“What?” He was confused. What was Mask doing? 

“ALOHA!” Oh, he could hear his name. 

“Yeah?"

Mask sighed.  “I’m bringing you home. I… think you need that.” Wait, Mask’s drawl was gone. Aloha looked at Mask.

“You took off your mask…” Aloha murmered in confusion. Why would he do that?

“Yeah, I did. I’m bringing you back to your apartment.” His hand was grabbed, and Mask was tugging him in the same direction he came from. 

He went back to his thoughts again. 

So Mask helped Headphones and Bobble get together. Mask also was in a relationship already.

“Who could…” Aloha shook his head. He was so confused. Today had started out decently, and now everything was confusing. Headphones and Bobble were dating, Mask was dating… someone, his mom hated his friends...

His mom… oh no.

“Masky… I don’t need you to walk me home. I’ll be fine!” He was desperate to get Mask to go home. He didn’t want Mask to get hurt. 

“Aloha, don’t call me that.” He kept on pulling Aloha’s hand. Aloha was starting to panic. 

“Mask, I can walk home by myself!” Mask was silent. “Mask, stop!” Mask didn’t stop.

“Why? Why do you want me to stop?” Aloha looked to the side. 

“I can walk home by myself, Mask.” Mask sighed.

“Aloha. I’m walking you home. If anything happened to you, I-” Mask stopped his sentence, and doubled his speed.

“You what? Are you just gonna not tell me?” Aloha whispered. 

“No, I’m not.” Mask went silent after that. 

Of course he wouldn't. Why would Mask trust him with anything?

Aloha continued to try to tug at Mask’s hand to get him to stop. Mask still wasn’t stopping. 

They were quickly approaching the area where Bobble and Aloha’s mom were arguing before. Aloha could hear the shouting still going on.

“What is happening over there?” Mask muttered.

“I don’t know let’s go a different way so we don’t get involved okay?!” Aloha started to try to tug Mask another way. He wouldn’t move.

“Is that Bobble and Headphones? Why is there a lady yelling at them?”

“Iiii don’t know! Let’s not get involved!” Aloha tried to get away from Mask, because he could almost see what was coming next.

“Aren’t they your friends too, Aloha? Why do you want to walk away?” Aloha shook his head.

“It’s not that I don’t want to help them, I just can’t get involved.” Aloha was trying to conceal his terror. Mask glared at him before putting his gas mask back on.

“Iiii thouuught you wereee a gooood person, Alooohaaa. Iiii gueeeess I waaaas wroooong.” Mask let go of his hand and headed over to where the shouting match was still going on.

Aloha felt like he had been stabbed.

_ “Iiii thouuught you wereee a gooood person, Alooohaaa. Iiii gueeeess I waaaas wroooong.” _

_ “Iiii gueeeess I waaaas wroooong.” _

He hurt someone.

He  _ hurt  _ someone.

He had done the one thing he didn’t want to do.

He was worthless.

He fell to the ground, slumping against an alley wall.

How could he? How could he hurt Mask like that?

He tugged his knees to his chest.

He was a good person.

He was a good person.

Wasn’t he?

  
  
  


Mask walked over to Bobble and Headphones.

“Whaaaat aaare youuu guuuys doiiing?” Bobble turned to him, a smile still evident on her face.

“This mean lady is yelling at us!” Bobble pointed a finger at the very impatient looking lady.

“Iiii caaan see thaaaat. Whyyyy?” He looked at the lady, noting her appearance just in case.

Headphones spoke up quietly. “We were on a date, and Bobble kissed me. This lady saw it and got mad at us.” Mask sighed.

“Becaaaause yoouuu guuuuys kiiiissed? Thaaat’s stuuuupid.” The lady glared at him with piercing blue eyes.

“They are little demons! You shouldn’t be tainting everyone else’s day with this… kissing scene. There has to be a man out there that would be perfect for you two!”

Mask raised an eyebrow. “Ooooh reaaaally? Weeell, youuu shouuuuldn’t be taaaainting theeeeir daaaay with yoooour preeeesence.” He crossed his arms, and waited.

“How  _ dare _ you! Who are you to talk to me like that?” She pointed an angry finger at him.

“Whooo are yoooou to taaaalk too theeeem liiike thaaat?” Mask countered.

The woman huffed. “Where are your parents? Why don’t they stop this delinquent behavior?”

Mask froze. Bobble’s smile dropped off of her face, and Headphones shook nervously.

“Exactly. They would stop you from harassing a mother trying to look out for everyone else-”

“Myyy paaarents are deaaaad.” Mask stated flatly, interrupting her. “Aaaand I knooow fooor aaa faaact that theeey wouuuld’ve suppoooorted theeem.” He gestured to Bobble and Headphones.

“They probably died because they supported these devilspawn.” She said, crossing her arms.

Oh _ sheeell _ no. He was not going to let this bitchy lady desecrate his parents’ names like that.

“Hoooow _ daaaare  _ youuu. Theeeey suuupporteeed peeeople becauuuse theeey wereeen’t hooorrible peeeople. Unliiike yoooou.” Mask spat out angrily. “They diiidn’t harass peeeople juuuust liiiving their liiife.”

Mask was angry. He didn’t care what happened now. He just had to make sure that this lady  _ never _ fucking did this again.

“Iiii haaaave a boooyfrieeend. Twooo, in faaact. Theeey treat me weeell eveeeen wheeen I’m angryyy with theeeeem. Theeey’re gooood inkliiings, aaand Iiiii love theeem a loooot. Weee aren’t deeevilspaaaawn. Weeee’re juuust liiiving ouuur liiives.”

The lady made a disgusted face. “Ugh, no wonder you’re so unpleasant. I have a son who knows that being gay is a sin, unlike you lot.”

“You have a son?” Bobble spoke up.

The lady smiled smugly. “Yes, and I’m very proud of him. He was gay once, but I beat it out of him.

“You  _ beat _ it out of him?” Headphones whispered.

“Yes. He is a perfectly functioning inkling. I just have to get him to stop eating so much junk food, and get rid of that  _ stupid _ hairstyle.”

Headphones whimpered. “Oh cod.”

“Whooo is thiiis soooon of youuurs?”

“Oh, he calls himself Aloha. Horrible name, really.” Mask froze.

“Alooohaaa?” That’s when it clicked. That’s why Aloha didn’t want to get involved. His mom was here.

If this was Aloha’s mom… that meant she was the one in the recording. She was the one who had been telling Aloha that he was fat, that being gay was a bad thing.

_ She was the one who had hurt Aloha. She was the reason Aloha had been screaming and crying. _

That revelation shocked him out of his silence.

“Youuuuu!” Mask lunged at her. Headphones’ eyes widened and Bobble moved to stop Mask from strangling her.

“Mask, if you do this, you’ll prove her point! And we need to show this mean lady that she’s wrong!” Mask stopped. Bobble was right.

If he did this, he would just prove Aloha’s mother’s point.

“Cooood!” He stepped away from her, growling.

He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to make sure that she suffered for what she did to his friend, but he also had to make sure that he didn’t do anything rash.

If Bobble hadn’t been there…

“Thaaaanks Boooobble.” Bobble nodded happily.

“’course!”

“So you know my son? How do you know him?”

“Heeee’s my teaammatee.” She looked surprised.

“You don’t look like you’re on Team Pink.”

Reaaally. No shit. “Hiiiis otheeeer teeeeam. Theee S4.”

“S4? He hasn’t told me about this team.” Aloha’s mother crossed her arms.

“The S4 is an elite team. It’s made up of the leaders of some of the highest-ranking teams. Team Orange, Team Pink, Team Cyan, and Team Purple.” Headphones spoke up. “The leader of Team Orange is Army, the creator of the Squid Net Manual. The leader of Team Pink is Aloha, the dancing dodger. The leader of Team Cyan is Mask, who uses Sub Weapon Hell. He’s the one who’s standing in front of you right now. Finally, the leader of Team Purple, and the leader of the S4, is Skull. He is the king of snipers, and can hit virtually any target.” Headphones gave her a stare that would give anyone chills. “Together, they are a force to be reckoned. If you ever were to go up against them, hope and pray. They are flawless, and if you splat or hurt one of them, the others will get revenge.”

Wow. Headphones did a lot of research about them, it seemed.

“So you’re… Mask.” Aloha’s mother said.

“Yeeees.” Mask said shortly.

“You don’t seem to be very powerful to me. Can you even do anything other than turf well?”

Mask decided that this would be a good time to scare her. He took off his mask, revealing some of the nasty scars on his face.

“Listen. I am a pro with any and every electronic device. Go up against me, and I’ll make sure _ everyone knows every bad thing you’ve ever done _ . Got it?” Mask smiled wickedly. Headphones flinched a little.

Aloha’s mother was not phased. “You’re bluffing.”

“Oh, but I’m not. Want me to tell you the password to your phone? I can.” Aloha’s mom looked a little pale.

“There’s no way you know that.”

“Wanna test that?” Mask pulled out his phone, starting to type on it.

A minute or two later, he had a string of five numbers.

“Your password is consisted of five numbers. The first number is eight…”

“Stop.” Aloha’s mom commanded.

“This is a really random string of numbers. Does it have some sort of value?” Mask asked.

“It’s my son’s actual name, which you wouldn’t know. He doesn’t use it.” She looked smug.

Mask laughed, putting a hand on his forehead. “Why would you tell me that? Are you stupid?”

“You already know the password, don’t you? Why does it matter if I tell you?”

“It doesn’t, lady. I don’t care. In fact, this conversation is fucking stupid.” Mask put his gas mask back on. “Leeeeave them aloooone. It’s noooone of your daaaaamn business aaaanywaaaays.” He turned to Bobble and Headphones. “Gooooo hooome. Doon’t look back, aaand ignooore her.”

Headphones nodded, and turned to Bobble, grabbing her hand. “Let’s go home.” Bobble nodded eagerly.

“Cuddles?” Headphones nodded, laughing quietly.

“Yeah, let’s cuddle at home.” They started to walk away.

Mask smiled a little.

Good. One thing taken care of.

He started to walk back to the alleyway where he had left Aloha.

“Are you just going to walk away, you little devil? You invaded my privacy, and you assaulted me. Are you going to walk away from me like that?” Mask stopped.

“Diiid youuu waaant aan apoooology? Youuu aren’t geeetting one.” He slipped his mask off of his mouth. “ _ I know what you’ve done _ .” Mask’s voice went cold. “And  _ you aren’t getting away with it _ .” He readjusted the mask so it covered his mouth again. “Byyyye.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and started to walk away again.

He had to check on Aloha, and apologize for what he said earlier.

He didn’t get to do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so basically:
> 
> mask's parents got into a car accident. he survived. his parents did not.
> 
> i did this weird thing with the password. i gave aloha another name that his mom would probably call him sometimes. it'll be in the next chapter. in fact, its the first word in the next chapter. the password is: 83756
> 
> hopefully it won't take me forever to write the next chapter.
> 
> thanks for readin'.


	9. uh oh.... spaghettio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha's mother does something bad that pushes Aloha into a bad, bad place. He starts blaming himself for something he shouldn't, and runs away from his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its the uh oh bad chapter....
> 
> WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: self harm, mentions of abuse, mentions of a person not eating (aloha), people bein beat up (mask), language (mask), bad thoughts (aloha), the bad voice.
> 
> I WILL MARK THE SELF HARM SECTION.
> 
> oh god. this was a nightmare to write and post. 
> 
> aloha's mom is a horrible person. 
> 
> i'm not going to go into detail, but holy dang, this week sucked.
> 
> i am so tired... i need to sleep.

“Visor.” Aloha hadn’t heard that name in ages. 

He slowly looked up, only to yelp as a body was thrown at him.

It was Mask. Mask had been thrown at him.

Aloha’s mouth opened into a silent scream.

“Mask…?” He whispered. Oh cod. There were bruises everywhere on Mask’s body, and he was bleeding.

“So you know this devilspawn.” He instinctively curled up again.

His mother was standing there, blue eyes glaring. Aloha instinctively curled up again.

“Visor. He tried to assault me, and he tried to expose my phone password.” She stated coldly. “I beat him up. Hopefully, that got the devil out of him. He has two boyfriends. Being gay is already a sin, and this one has double the sins.”

“Two…?” Aloha murmured. Mask had two boyfriends? Who could they be?

“Anyhow, one of those devil girls told me something interesting. She says that your team is one of the highest ranked, and that you’re actually a part of two teams.” She gave him a crooked smile. “What I want to know is why you didn’t tell me about this other team.” Oh no.

“I-I didn’t think it was i-i-important.” Aloha stuttered.

“You didn’t think it was important to let your mother know that you were in two teams?”

“Y-y-yes-” There was a sharp pain as Aloha was slapped.

“You thought that it wasn’t important to tell me? What else did you not think was important to tell me? That this boy knew you, and that the rest of this ‘team’ looks out and cares for everyone on it? That you clearly care for this boy?”

“I-I d-don’t-” He was slapped again.

“Liar. I can see that you care about him. What would you do if I broke his arm, right now?” She reached out for Mask.

No. No no no no no. He couldn't let Mask get any more hurt.

“No don’t!” Aloha grabbed Mask’s unconscious body and tried to shield Mask from his mother.

“See. You do, you liar. You wanna know something? This boy lunged at me when I mentioned you. I mentioned his dead parents, and that didn’t affect him too much. But one mention of you, and he started to attack me. If he hadn’t attacked me, this wouldn’t have happened.” She crossed her arms.

Aloha was shaking. He was trying to stay as calm as possible, but he couldn’t hide his terror.

Aloha's mother walked over to where he was curled up, and lifted him up by his shirt. “Visor, this is your fault. It’s your fault he’s beaten up like this.”

She was right, he realized. He should have been more persistent when he was trying to tug Mask away from the scene.

“This… is my fault.”

This was his fault.

He got someone hurt, simply because he was too weak to stop Mask.

She dropped him back down onto the ground. “I’m going to go to my hotel now. You deal with your mistakes.” She walked away with a sneer.

How could he?

How could he get Mask hurt?

He was horrible.

He was _horrible_.

Aloha cradled Mask gently in his arms.

Every bruise and every drop of Mask’s blood spilt was his fault.

He had to do something. 

Who could he call for help?

After a moment of indecision, he decided to call Army.

He picked up almost immediately. “Hello? Aloha? What is it?”

“A-are you h-home right n-now?” Aloha stuttered nervously.

“Yes, I am. Aloha, why are you stuttering?”

Aloha didn’t want to answer, but… “I-I-I… I have Mask. He’s badly hurt.”

“WHAT?!” Army shouted. Aloha winced at the loud shout, and pulled his phone away from his ear slightly.

“I-I’m heading o-over.”

“Wait, Aloha, wha-” Aloha hung up. He stood up slowly, looking around to make sure nothing had been dropped.

Nothing. Alright. Aloha started to walk to Army’s apartment. He tried to walk faster, so he could get there as soon as possible.

He looked down at Mask’s limp body.

“Cod… I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” He smiled sadly.

He was probably going to get kicked out of the S4 after this. Who would want Aloha after this?

Once he arrived at Army’s apartment, he knocked on the door. Almost immediately, Army opened the door.

“Oh Mask-” Army’s voice broke. The door opened wider, revealing Skull.

“What happened.” Skull’s face was… scary. Aloha shivered. 

“S-someone b-beat him u-up.”

“Did you see who did it? We can get them charged for assault.” Skull was already plunging ahead.

“I-I, uh…” Aloha shook nervously.

“Aloha, what happened?” Army asked.

“I-I…” Aloha backed away.

This was too much. If he told the truth, they would hate him.

Maybe that was for the better. Maybe they should hate him.

“I-it’s m-my f-f-f-fault.” Aloha held Mask out to Army and Skull. Army took Mask, and retreated into the apartment.

Skull was still standing there. “What do you mean, it’s  _ your _ fault?  _ You _ beat him up?” Aloha let out a yelp, shaking his hands along with his head.

“N-no, I j-just… i-it’s j-just m-my fault. I-I-I’m s-s-s-sorry!” Aloha burst into tears and ran.

“Aloha, _ wait _ !” Skull shouted after him. Aloha just kept running.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m SORRY!” Aloha cried.

Fifteen minutes later, he had locked himself in his bathroom. He was curled up in the bathtub, sobbing.

“T-this i-is a-a-a-all my f-fault!”

If he could just be stronger…

If he could just be stronger… he could protect his friends.

But he was weak.

He couldn’t even save one person.

He didn’t deserve to have friends.

Maybe it was better if he cut himself off from them. His heart ached at the thought, but Aloha knew it was the right thing to do.

He couldn’t get anyone else hurt.

“I-I cause s-so m-much p-p-pain…” Aloha whispered miserably, hugging his knees closer to his chest.

**(self harm section starts here.)**

He looked at the medicine cabinet above his counter.

He had things he could use to cause himself pain.

Aloha hesitated. Did he really want to do this again?

But… he caused other people pain, so it only made sense that he suffer too.

Right? That made sense.

Aloha got up from the bottom of the bathtub and walked to his medicine cabinet. He opened it, and grabbed a small bag.

He opened it.

There were small, skinny blades in the bag. Aloha reached his hand in the bag, and took one out.

He pulled up one of his shorts’ legs and he held the blade to the skin above his knees.

Wait, no he shouldn’t be-

_ Do it. _

He made a cut. Blood started to slowly drip down from the wound. He watched the blood, mesmerized.

_ Good, you’re making up for your mistakes. Do it again. _

So he did it again.

And again.

And again and again and again and again and again

“Do I even have enough bandaids for this?” He did, but… they weren’t big enough for the cuts.

Oh well. They’d hurt when he took them off, and pain was the whole point of this, right?

He wiped the blood off of his leg, and started putting bandaids on them.

They had little smiley faces on them. How ironic.

**(end of self harm section)**

He finished cleaning up, and went to his room.

He laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. A wave of guilt hit him.

He had told Scuba that he’d stop hurting himself. He had promised him.

But… he already hurt so many people.

What did it matter?

His phone buzzed, and he ignored it.

He didn’t want to talk to anyone.

He decided he would just sleep.

But ten minutes later, his phone was still buzzing. He didn’t bother to check who it was before picking up.

“Leave me alone!” He screamed into the phone, before hanging up.

He lay there for another moment, before giving in to curiosity and checking his phone.

Oh. It was Army.

Too late to apologize anyways. At least he could probably cut off that tie now.

But what about his crush on Ar-

_ No. You don’t deserve him. Not after all of this. Do you think he’ll even be your teammate after this? _

The voice was right. “No… he won’t.” He muttered quietly, turning onto his side and curling up. At least he’d be warmer that way.

He closed his eyes, and slipped into a deep, dark sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter is purely army and skull and mask.
> 
> the chapter after will cut to scuba and aviators. i need to flesh out both of those chapters, but that's the plan.
> 
> this is really hard to write, mostly because of my spotty internet connection. i've been switching to word every time i don't have wifi, and then formatting in docs. docs is weird about the wifi and stuff, so switching and formatting has been... annoying, to say the least.
> 
> hope you enjoyed, or something.


	10. aw look its the rest of the s4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Army, Skull, and Mask are confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for this chapter: mask cussing, mask talking about aloha's mom, mentions of homophobia, mentions of aloha not eating, mentions of beating.
> 
> i had most of this chapter and next chapter done, but i had to flesh it out an have it make somewhat more sense.

Army was staring at his phone in shock. He had called Aloha to make sure he was okay, and to ask him what he had meant earlier. But he had been greeted by an angry shout, and then hung up on.

He looked up to meet Skull’s eyes. Skull looked slightly disturbed.

“That was weird. What could have happened…?” Skull looked like he was trying to think.

“I don’t know. Aloha blames himself for it, though.” Army mused.

“But he says that he didn’t beat Mask up. If that’s the case, then there’s two questions we need to ask. One, who beat Mask up, and how can we make sure this never happens again? And two…” Skull trailed off, looking at where Mask lay on the couch.

“If Aloha didn’t beat Mask up, then why is he blaming himself for Mask’s state?” Army finished.

Skull nodded. “Yeah. This just seems too weird.” They sat in silence.

“I wonder if Mask knows anything…?” Army pondered. Skull just sat there quietly.

“I hope Mask wakes up soon.” Skull said quietly.

“I do too. But… I’m actually more worried about Aloha. He seemed fine the first year we knew him, but now…”

“He’s slowly becoming different.” Army nodded in agreement. “Aloha’s just been acting weirder and weirder these past two days.” Skull crossed his arms and sighed. 

“Three, actually.” Army corrected. Skull gave him a weird look, so Army started to explain. “There were balloons in my room, and I thought Aloha put them there, but he kept insisting he hadn’t. He also said something along the lines of ‘if I hadn’t forgotten those stupid-’ and then cut he himself off.”

“Hmm…” Skull leaned back. “This is really strange. Something must have happened, and recently.” He was silent for another moment. “Cod, why is this so hard?”

They sat there silently for another half hour, thinking.

After thirty minutes had gone by, Mask stirred from his place on the couch.

“Ugh… whaaat haaappened? Hoow did I-” Mask slowly sat up, holding his head.

Relief washed through Army as he put down his phone and rushed over to Mask’s side. “Oh thank cod you’re awake! Do you remember anything?”

Mask looked up at Army. “Uuuuuh… thiiiis laaaady was yeeelling at Boooobble and Heaaaadphooones. Aaaand theeen…” Mask went silent for a moment, before…

“Oh that bitch!” Army widened his eyes in surprise.

“Language, Mask!” Mask looked at him, angry at first. Slowly, his expression became softer.

“Soooorry Aaaarmyyy.” Mask took his mask off, putting it on his lap. 

“What happened, Mask?” Army said softly.

Mask rubbed his head. “Aloha’s mom was yelling at Bobble and Headphones for kissing.”

“They’re dating?” Skull said, seemingly confused.

“Aloha’s mom?” Army asked.

“Yeah, Skull. Anyways, I started arguing with Aloha’s mom and I might have maybe threatened her…?”

Army sighed in exasperation. “Mask…”

“I know, I know. Anyways, I had left Aloha in an alleyway, so I went back to check on him. His mom grabbed me from behind, and dragged me to another side street. She started hitting me, and I think I must have passed out at one point, because I don’t remember anything else. And now I’m here.” Mask finished.

“If that’s true…” Army started.

“Then what Aloha said doesn’t make any sense.” Skull finished. Army nodded. Mask looked between the two.

“Wait, what did he say?”

“He said that you being beat up was his fault.” Army explained.

“But it wasn’t? It was his mom’s.” Mask was confused.

Skull sighed. “That’s what we’ve been confused by for the last hour.”

Army could see Mask trying to think.

“Well… I did hear something disturbing. When his mom was yelling at us, she said something about Aloha being gay once. But she said she ‘beat it out of him’.” Mask murmured the last part.

“I’m sorry, but did you say that she said she ‘beat the gay out of him’?!” Army’s voice was straining.

“Yeah. She said that.” Skull looked well and truly disturbed now.

Army felt all of the color drain out of his face. “This is bad.”

“I also might have let it slip that I had two boyfriends to support my argument?” Mask said sheepishly. When Army gave him an incredulous look, Mask’s face turned to one of panic. “I didn’t tell her who!”

“That would definitely set her off.” Army murmured. “I need a manual. I have to write this down…” He got up to go find a manual.

“Did she say anything else?” Skull said from his place on the couch.

“Yeah, actually. She also said something about Aloha needing to eat less junk food.” Mask said.

What? “But he’s so skinny! He looks like he barely eats, and I’ve barely ever seen him eat!” Army burst out.

“Exactly. It makes no sense.” Mask leaned backwards, wincing a little. Army gave him a small pat on the head, and Mask smiled a little. “Thanks, Army.”

“Do you think it could be the pressure from his mother that’s causing him to not eat?” Skull said.

“Cod! I hope not.” Army exclaimed. “But… it is a possibility. What do we do now?”

Mask tried to stand up, stumbling a little. Skull and Army shot up to try to support him. Mask smiled gratefully.

“Thank you, guys. You two are the best I could ever ask for.” Mask started walking to the door. 

“Wait, Mask! Where are we going?” Army said in alarm.

“We’re visiting Aloha. Come on.” Mask started to walk again.

Skull stopped. “Wait, Mask. We should go tomorrow. It’s too late to go now.”

“What if something bad happens to him?” Army said.

“I don’t know. But I know we can’t do this now. Aloha’s probably asleep. Mask, you’re injured. At least get some sleep.” Skull stared into Mask’s eyes.

Mask went quiet and looked away. And then… “Fine.” He murmured. Skull gave a small nod, and they walked to Army’s bedroom.

“Here, sleep in my bed.” Army offered, helping Skull set Mask down on the bed.

“Why don’t we just all sleep on the bed.” Mask stated with a deadpan look. “There’s enough room for all of us. We’ve done this before.”

“No, you’re hurt, you should sleep on the be-”

“Okay.” Skull interrupted, pulling Army onto the bed. Army let out a startled yelp as Skull hugged him tightly, and they tumbled onto the bed together. Mask let out a small snicker.

They lay on the bed, Skull and Army looking at Mask, while Mask stared at the ceiling. Mask closed his eyes, and Army watched as Mask’s breathing slowed. Army smiled a little, watching Mask’s chest slowly rise and fall. Soon, Army was asleep too.

  
  
  
  


Skull watched as the other two fell asleep. He turned off the lamp that was sitting next to him, before smiling and closing his eyes, whispering, “I love you,” before closing his eyes, falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the rest of the s4 is dumb...
> 
> they could probably put it together, but nope! 
> 
> not yet.
> 
> next chapter is purely aviators and scuba
> 
> its an actual somewhat happy chapter! hurray!
> 
> look the next chapter isn't exactly needed, but i wanted to write it, okay?
> 
> if this chapter seems weird please let me know so i can fix it please i beg


	11. look i think they're a cute couple okay??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's literally a chapter with Scuba and Aviators.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I RELOADED THE PAGE AND NOW I HAVE TO TYPE ALL OF THIS AGAIN NOOO
> 
> i finally wrote something somewhat happy wowowow a real accomplishment
> 
> i looked all over for scuba x aviators and its few and far between im sad

Aviators was sitting on his bed, back to the bedframe. He had his sunglasses off, and he was listening as Scuba told him the events of his day.

“An’ his mom jus’ keeps askin’! I was boutta punch ‘er!” Aviators assumed Scuba was waving his hands around.

Aviators was silent for a moment. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He heard a squeak from the chair as Scuba leaned back in his chair. “Says the guy who tried ta’ cook yesterday.” 

“Look, I didn’t burn myself. Stop worrying about it.” Aviators said impatiently.

Scuba jumped out of his chair. “Avi, I don’ wan’ ya’ ta’ get hurt! ‘m worried ‘bout ya!” 

Aviators could hear the concern in Scuba’s voice as he said that.

Oh. He didn’t want to make Scuba worried.

“Okay. I won’t do anything dangerous, okay? I’ll be fine.” He reached his hands out in Scuba’s direction as a gesture of comfort. Scuba’s soft hands held his, and Aviators could feel his body relax. “So what else happened?”

Scuba inhaled sharply. “I had ta’ walk away. She was makin’ me real mad, an’ I didn’ wanna get ‘loha in trouble.” Scuba’s voice got quieter at the end. “I shouldn’ta left ‘im. He hasn’t replied ta’ any o’ my messages.”

Aviators squeezed Scuba’s hands. “I’m glad you didn’t get him in trouble.”

Scuba fell silent. Too silent. His fingers twitched, a sign that Scuba was uncomfortable.

“Hey, Scuba? Can you come sit next to me?” His hands were let go, and he could hear shuffling. The mattress sunk down, and a moment later, he could feel the warmth of Scuba’s body next to him. He turned to his boyfriend, and gave him a hug and a kiss on the head. He rubbed circles onto Scuba’s back. “It’s okay. He’ll be okay…”

“Bu’ ‘m scared…” Scuba whispered.

Why? What was he so afraid of?

“Why?”

Scuba let out a small sigh. “I- a coupla months ago, I foun’ out tha’ ‘loha had been… hurtin’ ‘imself. I made ‘im promise tha’ he wouldn’ do tha’ anymore… bu’ ‘m scared tha’ he might go back ta’ tha’. I don’ wanna lose anybody tha’ way.”

Aviators froze for a moment, now hyper aware of the scars on his arms.

I can’t tell him… he’d think it was his fault… and I don’t want that.

Scuba seemed to notice this silence. “Avi, are ya’ okay? Ya’ve been awfully quiet.”

“I’m fine. He promised you, right? I’m sure he won’t do it again.” Scuba was silent, before hugging Aviators back.

“Yeah. Thanks Avi. Love ya’.” Aviators smiled.

“Love ya’ to, Scuba.” Scuba fell silent again.

“Hey… Avi?”

“Yes?”

“Woulja’… tell me if ya’ needed help? Ya’d tell me, right?”

“Of course, Scuba.” Aviators felt bad about lying to Scuba. He just… didn’t want to make him worried. “Your birthday’s coming up. What do you want me to do?”

“Ah… uhm… ya don’ gotta do anythin’.”

Aviators actually already had a plan. He had been practicing the ukulele, and could play exactly one song. His plan was to play the song for Scuba. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mess up.

Stupid disease. Stupid blindness.

“Okay, Scuba. We should get to sleep.”

“Can I, uh, sleep with ya’ tonight? I jus’… wanna sleep in bed with ya tonight.”

“And here I thought you were asking something else.” Aviators teased.

“No! I mean, ‘less ya’ wanna. Then sure!” Scuba sounded nervous. Aviators laughed.

“I was just teasing. Come on.” He pulled the blankets over himself and Scuba. He laid down fully, and Scuba snuggled his head into the crook of Aviators’s neck. Aviators could see a small sliver of his boyfriend’s pink tentacles softly glowing.

“I can see your tentacles glowing, Scuba.” He heard a small laugh, and he could suddenly see a small bit of what he assumed were Scuba’s eyes. His eyes were maroon, with little hints of glowing pink.

“Can ya’ see my eyes now?” Aviators nodded.

“They’re beautiful, Scuba. Just like the rest of you.”

Scuba groaned. “Ya’ve gotta be kiddin’ me! ‘m the one who should be teasin’ ya’ and flirtin’ with ya’, and yer cute self is over here doin’ my job!”

Aviators blushed a little at the sudden compliment. “O-oh. Well, I like it when you do your job. You better get back to it, cutie.”

“AVI!” Scuba shouted frustratedly. Aviators started to laugh.

“What, I’m just telling the truth!” 

“Ughh, Avi… yer makin’ me embarassed!”

“Well, I bet you look very cute right now then!” 

“Avi!” Aviators laughed even harder. 

Scuba went silent for a moment. “Yer eyes are prettier. I know ya’ can’ see ‘em, bu’ they glow real bright.” Aviators went silent, blushing harder.

“My eyes aren’t pretty though… they’re so ugly.” They were an ugly dull purple. They hadn’t been pretty before, and he could barely even see with them now.

“They’re so pretty though! Ya’ve got the prettiest eyes in all o’ Inkopolis, Avi. I wish you could appreciate yer pretty self.” Scuba kissed his cheek.

Aviators felt a smile reach across his face. He probably looked really stupid right now, but he didn’t care.

“Ya’ve got tha’ silly smile on ya face again.” Scuba rubbed Avi’s tentacles, loosening his ponytail. “My favorite smile.” Scuba took out Avi’s hairtie, and Avi guessed that he was putting it on a nightstand. “My favorite smiley Avi.”

“Your smile is better than mine! You don’t look stupid when you smile…”

“Ya don’ look stupid. I love yer smile. ‘specially when ya’ smile ‘cause o’ me.” Scuba said. 

“You’re really the only person I smile like this for, Scuba. You’re the best.”

He could hear Scuba start to laugh, but it was soon muffled by Scuba burying his face into Aviator’s chest.

“Hey! That tickles!” He frowned. Scuba’s head moved.

“Aw… ya’ stopped smilin’!” Scuba pouted.

Aviators rubbed Scuba’s head. “I’ll smile again for you, okay?”

“Okay…” Aviators started to smile again, a lighter smile.

Scuba was silent for a moment, just staring at him. He smiled a little, but it looked sad. Scuba put his face back onto Aviators’s shirt. “Avi, yer so pretty. ‘m so lucky ta’ have ya’.” He mumbled. Aviators started to hear… snuffling? Was Scuba… crying?

“Hey, Scuba? Are you okay?” His face turned to one of concern. He didn’t like hearing Scuba cry.

“‘m fine.” He mumbled into Aviators’s shirt. “‘m jus’ worried ‘bout ‘loha. He’s good at lyin’ ta’ people. I didn’ even realize anythin’ was wrong ‘till two years after I met ‘im, an’ even then. I wasn’ sure… He’s a good actor.” Scuba continued to cry quietly. Aviators thought for a moment.

“Well… I’m supposed to tell Skull about all of this stuff. He asked me to help him out. I think the rest of the S4 is going to try to help him out. Anyways, don’t worry about it. He’ll be okay. I’m sure no one will let anything bad happen to him.”

Scuba stopped crying. “Thanks, Avi. I don’ deserve such a beau’iful an’ carin’ boyfrien’...” Aviators patted him on the head.

“We should actually go to sleep now, Scuba. I would love to talk with you all night, but we need to sleep, or you’ll have to deal with a cranky Aviators.” Scuba laughed quietly.

“Okay. ’night, Avi. Love ya.” Aviators turned off the light.

“Good night, Scuba. I love you too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> scuba's supposed to be the flirty one, but aviators does it on occasion to make scuba flustered.
> 
> hope yall enjoyed this chapter i had fun writing it
> 
> also who added this to a collection because i checked and its in a collection? i tried to see what it was, but im dumb, and i cant figure it out.
> 
> thanks for reading this. i really appreciate it.


	12. aloha just wants to sleep, man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha gets visitors, and it ends very, very badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh lord here we go again...
> 
> WARNINGS: language, mentions of attempted suicide, mentions of drug overdose, aloha’s mom, panic attack (army), violence, the bad voice
> 
> oh man
> 
> oh man.
> 
> i couldn’t write this chapter completely in aloha’s pov. i just... couldn’t. i think the reason is prolly obvious.
> 
> also all yall people leaving kudos?? yall are really cool

Aloha was awoken by the sound of knocking.

“Who…?” He said groggily. He dragged himself out of bed, feeling strangely sluggish. He tripped and fell on his face. “Ow…” He pushed himself up and started to walk again, his legs protesting painfully.

Why did they hurt so much? 

_It doesn’t matter. Answer the door._

He pulled open the door.

“Hello, Visor.” Cod, he was way too tired to deal with this.

“Hi.”

“Have you eaten yet?” She started to walk into the apartment.

“No.” He stepped aside to let her in.

“Well, did you a least take care of the situation you caused?” Oh, right. He had forgotten about that.

All of the thoughts and feelings and memories from yesterday came flooding back. Oh no.

He had broken the promise that he made to Scuba.

No wonder his legs hurt so much.

“Yeah.” He really hadn’t. He had fucked up his relationships with his teammates in the S4. He had broken the promise he made to Scuba.

He really was a horrible person.

“Good. I’m glad you at least did that.” He felt his heart ache.

Finally. Finally, he got some praise from his mother.

But why did it hurt so much?

He hurt so many people along the way.

Is this what he had to do to get even a little bit of praise from his mom?

His mother broke his chain of thought. “I’m going back to my hotel.” He stared at her blankly.

She was leaving already?

She turned to leave. “Oh, and Visor? I’m staying for a little longer. Maybe until Sunday?” Aloha felt his heart drop.

Why?

Why did this have to happen?

He was already messing up his relationships for her. Why did she have to stay longer?

By the time he came out of his thoughts, his mother had already left.

Aloha wanted to go back to sleep. He turned back to his bedroom, and started heading down the hallway.

Just as he was going to close his eyes, he heard another knock at his door. He groaned, and dragged himself out of bed.

He pulled open the door yet again, and then promptly closed it.

It was the rest of the S4. He was not ready to deal with them.

“You know what? Fine.” He said, pulling the door open again.

He already felt numb. What did it matter? They couldn’t hurt him.

“What.” Aloha said, glaring.

“We wanted to talk to you.” Army said.

“If you want your stupid manual, you can have it.” Aloha said shortly.

“What? I mean, I do, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about.” Army looked flustered.

“You guys are kicking me outta the S4?”

“What? No.” Skull said.

“Then what could you possibly want from me?” Aloha was surprised. They weren’t kicking him out? Why?

Mask spoke. “Weeee waaant too talk abouuut yesterdaaaay.” Oh.

“Fine. What about it? I already said it was my fault, didn’t I?”

“Why is it your fault, Aloha? You didn’t clarify.” Skull asked.

“It’s just my fault. I don’t know what else to say.” Cod, he was tired.

“Buuut you didn’t beeeat mee up, Aaaalooohaaa.” Mask stated.

“But it’s my fault you got beat up, Mask. It’s my fault. I should’ve-” He went silent.

“Should’ve what?”

“Forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

Skull sighed. “We know that your mom beat him up, Aloha. It’s not your fault.”

Aloha went quiet.

“Aloha, we care about you. What’s wrong?” Army whispered.

They cared about him?

His heart ached. He really wanted to open up to them. He wanted to tell them everything, he wanted them to comfort him.

But… he was scared.

~~He wanted to tell them.~~

_No._

But he couldn’t tell them.

“Nothing’s wrong! Don’t worry about it. I’ll see y’all on Wednesday!” He tried to close the door, but Skull slammed it open again. Aloha flinched at the loud sound.

“Aloha.”

“Y-yes, Skull?”

“Stop lying.”

“But I’m not-”

“You are.” He took a step towards Aloha. Aloha froze in terror.

_He’s going to hurt me._

_He’s going to hurt me._

But he couldn’t move.

He whimpered quietly. He was trying not to show his fear, but he couldn’t run away.

Arny spoke up quietly. “Skull, you’re scaring him.” Skull stopped abruptly.

“Oh. I’m sorry, Aloha.” Aloha was still frozen in fear, shaking.

“He didn’t mean to scare you, Aloha. It’s okay.”

It was not okay.

It was not okay at all.

He felt light-headed. He didn’t want to be here.

He could feel himself start to panic. He was hyperventilating.

Skull wrapped him in a hug, causing Aloha to inhale sharply.

“I’m sorry, Aloha.” Skull murmured into his ear. Aloha was still tensed up.

“It-it’s fine.” He stuttered.

The hug felt nice…

Skull smelled like candy. Sweet and wonderful and…

More arms wrapped around him. Aloha felt more uncomfortable, but at the same time…

He felt _loved_. He wanted these hugs.

His skin felt strangely uncomfortable though.

He was conflicted. He didn’t want them to touch him, because they might hurt him, but he also craved the warmth of their hugs.

He was still frozen. He didn’t know what else to do. He was afraid to move, and their arms were pinning his.

“Alooohaaa, teeeell us whaaat’s wroooong…” Mask said softly. Huh. He had never heard the cyan inkling’s voice get so soft before.

“I-I…” Aloha wanted to cry. He couldn’t tell them! He already got Mask hurt, and he couldn’t get them hurt.

He didn’t want them to carry that weight. He had already seen the effect his problems and worries and fears had on Scuba.

He couldn’t do that to them.

“G-go away…” Aloha said quietly.

“We can’t just leave you like this, Aloha.” Army protested, hugging him tighter.

_Let go._

_Make him let go._

_This is uncomfortable._

_He shouldn’t be touching you._

_You’ll stain them._

“Let go… let go of me.” Aloha said, a little louder.

They weren’t letting go.

He started to struggle a little.

“Let go! Let go of me!” Aloha screeched, thrashing around.

Mask let out a pained groan as Aloha’s fist connected with his skin. Mask let go and keeled over in pain.

“Uuugh…” Mask groaned.

Army’s eyes lit up in alarm. “Mask! Are you okay?”

“Fiiine. Dooon’t worry about meeee.” Mask said.

Aloha could feel Skull’s grip get tighter. 

Was Skull trying to kill him? Was he trying to make sure that he couldn’t run away? What should he do…?

_JUST MAKE HIM LET GO!_

But how…?

**_BITE HIM._ **

He twisted around, and bit Skull.

He could see some of Skull’s ink come out from the bite wound on his shoulder. Skull’s face was a mix of pain and alarm. Skull’s grip loosened, and Aloha bit him again in desperation, hoping that he’d let go. Skull let go, staggering away. Aloha struggled harder, twisting and turning and hitting whatever he could.

“Aloha, stop!” Army shouted.

He could feel the effect of the commanding tone of Army’s voice on him, but he tried to push through it.

“No! Let go! Why do you keep touching me?!” Aloha screamed, tears starting to fall down his face. “Let go let go let go!” Aloha tried to hit Army.

Finally, he made Army let go of him, and he fell to the ground, crawling as fast as he could to get away from them.

“Aloha, come back!” Army was screaming at him.

“Aloha!” Skull yelled.

He stood up and turned to them.

Oh cod… They looked so scared and hurt.

_See? Look what you’ve done. They hate you. They’re terrified._

“I didn’t want to do this…” He whispered to himself.

Skull was holding his shoulder. Army was holding Mask, and Mask was staring at Aloha.

“I… I did this… I didn’t want to… I’m sorry…” Aloha whispered.

“Aloha, just tell us what’s wrong! We just want to help you!” Army pleaded.

It was then he realized.

He didn’t want help.

He deserved to suffer, right?

They shouldn’t help him.

“Don’t help me!” Aloha cried. “I don’t want to be helped!” He rubbed his arms. “I don’t deserve help. Just go _away!_ ”

“What…?” This was the first time that Aloha had seen his team leader so _hurt_.

And he had caused it.

Why couldn’t he just keep acting? Then none of them would’ve known.

He could laugh and pretend that he was fine.

Fine.

Fine fine _fine_.

“Aloha… what are you talking about? Of course you deserve to be helped.” Army looked so broken.

_You caused this._

Aloha started to cry again. “No I don’t! I’m a horrible person and I don’t deserve anyone’s help!” He was screaming, tears running down his face. 

“Alooohaaa… youuu aren’t aaa hooorrible peeerson…” Mask said quietly.

But he was…?

Right?

Right?

He couldn’t take this anymore. 

He was causing too much pain.

_You shouldn’t exist. As long as you exist, everyone else suffers._

The voice was right. He started to back away again.

“Aloha, please wait!” Army yelled.

“No…” He shook his head, still backing away. “No.” 

He turned back around and ran into the bathroom.

  
  
  
  


Army was staring in shock as Aloha turned and ran. Mask heard the slam of the door closing.

“Whaaat… juuust haaappened?” He asked, bewildered. 

“I have no idea.” Skull said quietly.

“Aaaarmyyy? Whaaat do weee dooo?” Mask looked up at him. “Aaaarmyy?”

Army was silent. He didn’t know what to say. Mask looked up at him, worried.

“Aaarmyy? Whaaat aaare wee going toooo doooo? Dooo youuu haaave a plaaan?” 

Army was just sitting there, and he was shaking. Mask reached his arm down and grabbed Army’s arm.

“Aaaarmy?”

He could hear Army whispering something. He tried to sit up slowly to hear better.

“I don’t have a plan. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have a plan. I don’t know what to do…” He was repeating it like a mantra.  
  


“Army.” Skull spoke. “Army, are you okay?” 

Army just looked at him blankly. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to go forward. I don’t have a plan for this.” He shook harder. 

Skull came over, squeezing Army’s shoulder. “Army. It’s okay. We can come up with a plan together.”

Mask could see that Skull’s words had no effect on Army. He was still shaking, and he was starting to squeeze Mask. He squirmed uncomfortably. Army showed no signs of noticing.

“Skuuuull? Whaaaat do weee dooo?” Skull was silent. “Skuuuull?” Skull looked pale, and more than usual. “Skuuull? Aaaare youuu okaaay?”

“Mask… I don’t know what to do.” He sat down, rubbing Army’s back.

“Weeeell… weee shouuuld goooo cheeck on Alooohaa.” Mask squeezed Army’s arm. “Caaan youuu leeet gooo of meeee, Aaarmy?” Army loosened his grip a little, and Mask maneuvered his way out of his arms, wincing every so often.

“Skuuull, taake care ooof Armyy.” He got up, and started to walk down the hall towards Aloha’s bathroom.

“Don’t get lost!” Skull called after him.

Mask stopped and stared at him blankly. “Areee youu kidding meee? Aloooha’s apaaartment is ooonly threeeee roooms, Skuuull.”

Mask kept walking down the hallway, reaching Aloha’s bathroom. He could hear sobbing coming from the inside, along with quiet whispers.

He knocked on the door. “Aloohaa? Caaan youuu opeeen the doooor?” The sobbing stopped.

“N-no… go away.” Aloha said from inside. “I’m gross. Go away.”

“Noooo, youuu aren’t. Pleaaase opeeen theee doooor.” Mask just stood there, waiting.

“I hurt you twice already. Why do you still want to talk to someone as horrible as me?” Aloha said, a little quieter.

“Aloooohaaa… youuu aaaren’t hooorrible. Youu weeere juuust scaaared. It’s okaaay.”

“No it’s not! I shouldn’t have hurt you guys… cod…” He started to cry again.

Mask sighed. “Weeee juust waaant to knoooow whaaat’s wrooong, Alooohaaa. Caaan youuu tell uuuus, pleaaaase?” He was trying so hard to just sound calm, but he was actually panicking really badly.

After all, he didn’t know what else Aloha was doing in the bathroom.

“Alooohaa… pleaaase opeeeen theee dooooor.” No answer, other than Aloha’s sobbing.

“Mask, can you come back for a moment?” Skull’s voice called from down the highway.

Mask looked at the bathroom door. “Dooon’t dooo anyythiiing stuuupid, Alooohaa.” He whispered quietly. He walked back to where Skull and Army were sitting.

Army looked better, and he was flipping through what Mask assumed was a manual.

“I have a plan now.” Army sounded much more in control again. Mask stopped to listen, and Army continued. “We’re going to lockpick his door.”

“Uuuuh… Armyyyy? Dooo you knooow hoooow to looockpiiick?”

Army shook his head. “No, I don’t. But I know you do. I also know what kind of door he has, making it easier to unlock that door.”

Well, Army was right, he did know how to lockpick. But he wasn’t exactly comfortable with the thought of breaking into his friend’s bathroom. It just felt… wrong, somehow.

“Soooo you waaant meeeee toooo unlooock the doooor.” Army nodded firmly.

“Can you please do that?”

Mask was silent for a moment. Should he really do this?

But it was for the good of one of his best friends…

“Fiiine. I’ll doooo iiiit.”

“Great. Now, Skull, I need you to make sure he’s calm. But how do we do that…” Army tapped a pencil against the manual. “We could give him food...?”

“Heee haaaas straaawbeeeerry sooooda.” Mask said.

“Okay, great. Skull, you give him the soda. We’ll try to calm him down and defuse the situation, and then we’ll ask him again. Hopefully, if this all goes according to plan, we can know how to help Aloha.”

“Okay.” Skull said, walking over to the fridge. He opened it. “Wow. There is not a lot in here.” Mask walked over to look.

There were five cans of strawberry soda sitting on the top shelf of the fridge. In the middle of the fridge, there was the cake box. On the bottom shelf, there was a paper bag haphazardly shoved in. Skull took one of the cans of soda, and gave it to Mask before taking out the bag and opening it.

“There’s just… salads.” Skull said quietly. “Small boxed salads.” Skull reached a hand inside and pulled one out.

It was tiny. It was barely bigger than Skull’s hand.

“Thaaaat’s noooot a loooot.”

“There’s a note too.” Skull read the note aloud. “To Visor: Don’t forget! Two per day! You have to lose all of that extra fat!”

“Two per day? But that would kill him!” Army exclaimed. “He already looks like a skeleton!”

“Uuuugh… sheeee’s a biiiiitch.” Army didn’t even try to remind him about his language.

“We need to do this now. Mask, do you have lockpicks with you?” Army asked.

“Yeees.” Mask reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.

“Good. Let’s go.” They walked down the hallway.

Mask knocked on the bathroom door again. “Alooohaaa? Caaan youuu ooopen the dooor?” Complete silence. He couldn’t even hear Aloha’s crying anymore. He started to pick at the lock on the door.

“According to my notes, the doorknob is fairly simple. The place you should try is mostly in the middle, but it’s a little bit down.”

“Okaaay.” He started to poke a little down there.

“Oh fuck.” Skull said, looking at his phone. “Mask, hurry up.”

“What’s wrong?” Army asked him. Mask tried to go faster.

Skull never cursed, ever. Something had to be wrong.

“Aviators just texted me. They’re heading over right now.” Skull said, turning off his phone.

“Whyyy?” Mask asked nervously.

“Scuba got a text from Aloha.” Skull stuffed his phone into his pocket.

“What was the text?” Army asked, tapping his foot nervously.

Skull sighed, and looked straight at the door.

“It said, ‘I’m sorry for being such a horrible person, Scuba.’”

“Anyyything elsee?” Mask asked nervously.

“Just that. Scuba tried to text him back, but he didn’t get an answer.”

“This isn’t good.” Army tapped his pencil against his manual again.

Mask heard part of the doorknob give way. “I goooot it!”

He gently opened the door…

  
  
  
  
  


Scuba was running as fast as he could across the Square, tugging Aviators along with him.

“Come on, come on, ‘loha please…” He muttered.

“Scuba! We have to slow down! We’ll get hit by a car!” Aviators called out to him.

“It’s a’ight, Avi! We’ll be fine.” Scuba kept running with Aviators stumbling along with him.

They were almost at Aloha’s apartment building when Aviators squeezed his hand.

“Scuba… Skull just texted me back.” Aviators held his phone tightly in his hands. He had one side of his headphones off.

Scuba stopped. “Wha’d he say?”

“They got into Aloha’s bathroom.” 

“Really? Wha’ happened? Is he okay?” Scuba asked hopefully.

They’re bringing Aloha to the hospital.” Scuba felt like everything had just crashed down around him.

“W-wha’? He didn’… did he?” Aviators was silent. Scuba felt tears fall down his face. “N-no… how did he…?”

Aviators sighed. “Skull says that they found an open sleeping pill bottle. There were pills all over the floor, and Aloha had thrown up all over the floor. There was some ink and bits of what Army thinks are the pills in the puke.”

“He always tol’ me he was ‘fraid of dyin’… why woul’ he do this?” Scuba whispered.

“Scuba… Army also inspected him while Skull was calling the ambulance.” Aviators said softly. “They found a bunch of cuts all over the top of Aloha’s legs. Some of them were new.”

Scuba let out a choked sob. “He said tha’ he’d stop. He promised me.” Aviators watched with pain in his eyes.

“I… don’t want to sugar coat this, Scuba. He might not be okay. He’s still alive, but…”

“’ere’s a chance he migh’ not survive.” He finished. Aviators nodded.

“Yeah. Scuba, I’m so sorry.” Aviators pulled him into a hug, and Scuba started to sob into his jacket. Aviators patted his back. “Do you want to go to the hospital? We can meet them there.”

“Yeah. I wanna go.” Aviators nodded, and Scuba pulled away from him. “Le’s go.”

They held hands and started to walk towards the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow that was
> 
> wow
> 
> this actually took me a bit to write. 
> 
> hope yall... enjoyed? i dont know
> 
> i swear this fic has a happy ending... at least thats the plan. it could change :)


	13. its the hospital chapter oh joy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha and Scuba have a conversation in the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: mentions of suicide, mentions of starving
> 
> i dont really know how to feel about this chapter.
> 
> this and the next one.
> 
> also to all of you people reading, wow! thank you!
> 
> this was probably very predictable. oh well...
> 
> my cat died yesterday. 'm gonna miss him a lot.
> 
> sorry that was dark uh moving on.... 
> 
> hope you enjoy this chapter!

Aloha woke up in a bed. He stared at the white ceiling, the bright white lights blinding him.

“Where am I…?” He muttered quietly, trying to sit up. He cringed painfully. “Ow.” He decided to look around.

There was some kind of computer across the room that was dark. He could also see a couple of chairs next to the bed he was trapped in.

There was something attached to his arm. An IV drip? But that meant he was at the hospital.

That also meant he had failed.

Aloha put his head back down with a sigh. He closed his eyes again. There was no point in being awake, anyways.

... 

“’loha?” Oh great. He had forgotten to look at the other side of the room, and now he had to face Scuba. He turned his head to the other pink inkling. Scuba looked… horrible. And it was probably his fault.

He sat up painfully. “You look horrible, Scuba.” Aloha laughed dryly. Scuba just stared at him.

“Are ya’ seriously laughin’ after all’a this?! I know yer tryin’ ta’ make me feel better, bu’ it ain’t workin, ‘loha.”

Aloha sighed. “Yeah. That was stupid. Sorry.” Well, that plan was down the drain.

“Why dija do it, ‘loha? Ya’ promised me… ya’ promised me ya’ wouldn’. An’ now we’re here, in a hospi’al.” Scuba sounded so tired. “I thought tha’ promise meant somethin’ ta’ ya’.”

“It did, Scuba. I just…”

“Ya’ jus’ what? Ya’ jus’ wanted ta’ leave? Jus’ like tha’?” Scuba shot back angrily. “Yer my bes’ bro, ‘loha. I jus’ don’ wan’ anythin’ bad ta’ happen ta’ ya’.” His voice got quieter near the end.

He understood why Scuba was mad. If the situation was reversed, he would’ve reacted the exact same way.

But that didn’t mean it still didn’t feel bad. He felt horrible. He had broken his promise, and betrayed his second-in-command.

Why was Scuba even still calling him his ‘best bro’? He didn’t deserve the title anyways.

“I’m sorry.” Aloha muttered.

“‘Sorry’ ain’t gonna cut it, ‘loha. I know ‘m soundin’ real harsh righ’ now, bu’ ‘m jus’ real worried ‘bout ya’.” Scuba took off his scuba mask, and Aloha could see the other boy’s maroon eyes brimming with tears. “‘m sorry I couldn’ help ya’.”

Aloha felt so  _ bad _ . He didn’t want to hurt Scuba like this.

“Scub’, it’s not your fault…”

“If I had known everythin’ earlier, I coulda protected ya’! I coulda helped ya’, I coulda made sure ya’ fel’ safe. I coulda prevented all’a this!”

Now Aloha could see. Scuba was blaming himself. He acted like he was angry with Aloha, but in reality…

Scuba was just disappointed in himself.

“Scub’, this isn’t your fault! I just couldn’t take it anymore!” Aloha raised his hands up, ignoring the painful protests from his body. He started to wave them around animatedly. “I was hurting so many people and I just thought if I could stop existing, just disappear, then people would stop hurting! It’s not your fault Scuba. It’s mine.” Aloha let his hands fall back down onto the blanket.

“Bu’… ‘loha…” Scuba started to protest.

“No, Scuba. Don’t try to blame this on yourself. It’s my fault. No one else’s. I’m just a fucking horrible person who’s too afraid to do anything. I’m still that person, and I fucking hate it. I hate myself for it. I hate myself for a lot of things, and I have to play it off like I’m absolutely fine.” Aloha grabbed one of his arms. “Everyone’s always so curious when I let my guard down, and they have to start poking and prodding and  _ pushing _ until I’m uncomfortable. And when I’m uncomfortable, I lash out and hurt people. That’s just how it works. No one can just  _ mind their own business. _ You were different though. You waited until I was comfortable. And that was nice. It felt good to tell you.” Aloha gripped his arm even tighter. “But then I realized that I was just burdening you. I shouldn’t have told you, Scuba. Look at you. You look like you haven’t slept in days. I don’t see even a hint of a smile on your face. You’re horrified. I don’t want to burden other people with that knowledge. I didn’t want to get anyone hurt. But now, the rest of the S4 prolly knows everything, and I’m going to hurt more people and burden more people with my stupid problems. More people are going to hate me, and I’m going to be stuck in a stupid loop of trying to die and then being saved.”

Scuba was silent. Aloha could see his hands shaking. As soon as he noticed, though, Scuba squeezed his hands together.

“’loha… we don’ hate ya’. None o’ us do. All we wanna do is help ya’.” Scuba said quietly.

“Why? Why do you all want to save me so bad? I don’t deserve it.” Aloha whispered.

“Ya’ do deserve it, ‘loha. Ya’ deserve ta’ be helped.” Scuba squeezed his hands tighter together. “It’s yer mum, isn’ it. It’s yer mum tha’ made ya’ think like this.” Scuba stood up. “’m gonna kill ‘er.”

“Scuba, don’t bother. It’s not worth it.” Scuba gave him a sad look, and then sat back down dejectedly. “By the way, Scuba?”

“Yeah?”

“Who’s… uh… paying for the hospital bill? I know it ain’t cheap.” Scuba shrugged.

“I actually don’ know. Maybe drill sergeant? I know one o’ ‘em’s payin’ the bill. Dunno which one.

“Oh.” If any of them was paying the bill, it was probably Army. He had a lot of money from his family.

But why would Army spend so much money on him?

“It’s prolly Army, then.” Scuba nodded.

They sat in silence.

“Scuba? When are they letting me out?”

Scuba shrugged again. “I dunno, ‘loha. Ya’ did a number on ya’ body. I dunno when you get out.” Scuba rubbed his thumbs together. “They said ya’ were starvin’ yerself. Why?”

Aloha sighed. “Scuba, I don’t have that much money. A lot of it goes to the stupidly high rent of my apartment and the bills.”

“Well, wha’ ‘bout the res’ o’ it?”

“Weapon maintenance, some food, transportation. Stuff like that.” Aloha listed off. “Also clothes. I need to replace clothes way too often.”

“Oh.” Scuba said.

“I’m not really hungry, anyways.” Aloha lied.

“’loha, I know yer mum’s been tellin’ ya’ tha’ yer fat.” Scuba said quietly. “Stop tellin’ me tha’ yer’ no’ hungry.”

Aloha started to protest. “I-”

Scuba interrupted. “No, ’loha. Please don’ say anythin’. Yer one o’ the skinniest people I know. Please don’ say tha’ yer fat, ‘cause ya’ look like a skeleton.”

Aloha looked down and stared at the blanket.

“I jus’… wanna make sure tha’ ya know tha’ I care, a’ight?”

“Yeah, I know.” Aloha looked at Scuba dead in the eyes. “Scuba, you’re one of the best squids I know. I’m sorry that I’m putting you through this.”

“I woul’ rather know than be in Army or Mask or Skull’s si’uation. They’re grievin’, and they don’ even know wha’s goin’ on.”

“Oh. Right.” They had no clue. “This must’ve really come outta the blue, huh?”

“Yeah, ‘loha.” Scuba looked at the door. “They migh’ be still out in the hallway, if ya’ wanna talk to ‘em.”

“I don’t really want to.” Aloha looked at the door. “But they deserve an explanation, I guess. They kept asking for one, so they’ll get what they want, I guess.” He looked back at Scuba and gave him a shaky sheepish smile. “I guess I shouldn’t try to joke with them and act like everything’s fine?”

Scuba laughed a little. “No, ya’ prolly shouldn’.”

Aloha took a deep breath. “Alrighty then. I guess I’m going to do this now.”

“I guess ya’ are.” Scuba got up out of the chair, and started to walk to the door.

“Hey, Scub’?” Aloha called.

Scuba stopped and turned around. “Yeah, ‘loha?”

Aloha gave him a shaky thumbs up. “Go do something with Aviators. Don’t just sit in the hospital all day. Just because I’m stuck in here doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun!” Aloha gave him a wink. “Give him something to remember. In fact, give both of you something totally fresh to remember other than me being stupid and landing myself in the hospital.”

“Oh my cod, ‘loha.” Scuba laughed.

“Come on man, just do it! Go have fun!”

Scuba put his scuba mask back on, laughing. “Fine, I will. Get outta the hospi’al soon, so I can tease ya’ ‘bout yer crushes again.”

Aloha groaned. “Don’t remind me!” He whined.

Scuba laughed, and opened the door. “I’ll be seein’ ya, ‘loha.”

“Bye, Scuba.” Scuba smiled at him and shut the door behind him.

As soon as the door slammed closed, he could feel all of his positive energy from before leave him.

He had to talk to the rest of the S4 now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've had the sudden realization that aloha's mom's design is based off of my mom.
> 
> not her personality or anything, but like... her hairstyle. that sounds really weird.
> 
> i guess my brain was like: "oooh you know what's scary? moms with hair buns."
> 
> thanks for reading!
> 
> next chapter: aloha answers questions stupidly.


	14. hospitals and the s4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha talks to his... friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: mentions of suicide, mentions of abuse, mentions of threats
> 
> ooooh boye.
> 
> aloha gets angy and becomes the culmination of 'no talk to me, im angy"
> 
> army's trying his best, okay??

He had barely any time to come up with what to say to them before the door opened again, and the three people he had been dreading to talk to walked in.

“Hi.” He said, waving at them.

“Aaaare youuu seeeriouuus?! Youuu liiiteraaally juuust triiied too kiiill youuurseeelf and nooow youu’re juuust goonna siiit there waaaving at uuus wiiiith a stuuupid griiin on youuur faaaace?” Mask exclaimed.

“Yes.” He stared straight into Mask’s eyes. “Got a problem with it?”

Mask sighed, and sat down. “Yeees, actuuuually. I haaave maaany, buut thaaaat’s nooot why weee’re heeere.”

“You want answers.” Aloha said flatly.

“Yes, Aloha. An explanation would be optimal right about now.” Army sat down on one side of Mask, tapping his pencil on the chair.

“Well, I don’t know what to say. Knowing you, Army, that manual you have is probably full of questions. Go ahead and ask ‘em.”

Skull just looked at him silently, before sitting down onto the empty chair that was on Mask’s other side.

“Well… um…” Army looked at his manual, flipping the pages.

“Can we start with the pills?” Mask had taken his gas mask off.

“You know you’re not supposed to take that off in a hospital, right?” Aloha asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mask rolled his eyes. “Can we  _ please _ start with the pills. The ones I found a couple days ago?”

“Wait, Mask, you found his pills?” Army asked.

Mask sighed again. “Yes, I did. Can we not do this right now? Because I really want an answer.”

“Well, they’re exactly what you thought they were. Anti-depressants.” Aloha answered.

Mask shook his head. “No, they actually weren’t. Those were sleeping pills. It was labelled as an anti-depressant, but they were sleeping pills.”

What?

That meant that the doctor had lied to him.

But why…?

It actually explained a lot of things. No wonder he was so tired after taking them.

“Oh. I didn’t know that.” Aloha said quietly.

“You took a lot of them, Aloha.” Skull said.

“I know.” That was why he was here, wasn’t it?

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Skull said.

No duh. “…” Aloha said nothing, just stared.

“Okay. Well then, Aloha, I do have a question. What was the thing you were talking about forgetting at my apartment? The thing that you called ‘stupid’?” Army asked.

Oh yeah. He had completely forgotten about that. “That would be the bottle of pills that I thought were anti-depressants.”

Army nodded slowly, and scribbled something down. “Okay.”

Skull decided to speak up again. “You never answered my question the other day. Do you like guys, Aloha?”

Uhhh… crap. “Guys are cool.” He tried to be purposefully vague.

“Aloha, can you please give me a straight answer?” Skull asked.

Well, he could either lie, pretend that he couldn’t understand the question, or come out in the stupidest way possible.

“Can’t give you a straight answer if I’m not straight~!” He fingergunned at them. They just stared at him. Aloha laughed nervously.

“That… was really dumb.” Mask was the first one to speak.

“I answered the question, didn’t I?!” Aloha said incredulously.

“Yeah. Thank you, Aloha.” Skull said.

He was suddenly realizing that he could have just said yes or no.

Well, too late. He was dumb.

“By the way, Skull… I know you found my journal.” Aloha said slowly.

“How?”

Aloha stared at him in confusion. “You’re not even going to deny it?”

Skull shrugged. “What’s the point?” He was right.

“A couple slips of paper came out. How did you not notice? It was so obvious.” The slips of paper had been little tiny drawings of the S4. He had stuffed them in there, hoping no one would ever see them.

“Oh. I didn’t notice.” Aloha mentally facepalmed.

“Wow. Okay then. Any more questions?”

“Yes, actually. Relating to that, Skull says that you wrote about people in your… uh, journal. You were extremely vague in the journal entry. Could you explain who these people were?” Army tapped his pencil against his paper.

Aloha froze. He had already told them one of his secrets. Did he have to tell them more?

“Uh… can you explain? I’m kind of confused…” He said, squeezing his hands together.

“Let’s see… Skull said that you wrote ‘he’ and ‘she’ and ‘they’. Can you specify who those people are?” Army said, looking up at him.

Oh. Oh no.

Did he really have to explain this? He didn’t want to.

_ You could just lie to them… _

No. He was tired of lying.

Aloha looked to the side. “Well, uh… the ‘she’ was my mom. Think that’s fairly obvious.”

“Yeah.” Mask said. “I hate your mom, Aloha.”

Army ignored Mask’s remark. “Okay. What about the ‘he’?”

Did he really have to do this today? This was a really bad time.

“Uh… I’m pretty sure it was you.” Aloha said quietly.

Army looked a little flustered at that. “O-oh. Okay.”

“Was the ‘they’ in the journal us?” Skull asked.

Okay. Blunt.

“Yeah.” Aloha whispered. “It was.”

Silence.

“You… know we don’t just keep you around because you turf well, right?” Skull said slowly.

They didn’t? Then why…?

Why was he still on the team?

“Why?” He whispered. “Why am I still on this team? Why am I still here? What purpose do I have?”

“What do you mean?” Mask said quietly. “You’re our friend. Why wouldn’t you be on the team?”

“Friend?” He never… realized that they thought of him as a friend. He was their friend?

“Y-yes, Aloha.” Army said, looking to the side with a blush on his face. Why was Army blushing? “Our friend.” 

“Did you not realize that? Of course you’re our friend, Aloha.” Skull said quietly. “Did you consider us friends, too?”

Did he?

They were nice to him. Nicer than they should be. 

He had never actually called them friends. Only teammates. 

He felt like he didn’t deserve the title, so he had just called them teammates. He didn’t know how they felt about it.

“Aloha? Did you?” Mask said. He sounded worried.

“I… I guess I didn’t.” Aloha murmured. “I thought… that you wouldn’t want to call a horrible person like me… a ‘friend’. So I never thought that y’all would be… okay with me calling you that.”

Mask looked sort of disturbed. “Uh… Aloha? Why would you think that?”

He shrugged. “I just… thought that you guys hated me. I don’t know what else to say.”

Everyone was quiet.

Army spoke up again. “We… don’t hate you, Aloha. We care about you a lot.”

“That’s gay.” He joked quietly.

Army just looked at him. “Aloha. Really? You chose now to crack jokes?”

Aloha laughed quietly and looked back down. He was so tired. He didn’t want to talk to them right now.

But they deserved answers, right? It was the least he could do, after everything.

“Do you guys have any more questions?” Aloha asked tiredly.

Army looked at his manual. “Aloha, I did have one more question. You don’t have to answer it, okay?” Army said.

“Okay.”

Army took a deep breath. “Did your mom… abuse you?”

Aloha didn’t know what to say.

_ “If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill everyone you care about.” _

_ “… okay.” _

How was he supposed to…?

“Aloha? You’re shaking.” Army said.

“I… no. She didn’t.”

_ Didn’t you say you were tired of lying? _

_ You’re so weak that you can’t just answer him truthfully. _

_ You’re such a liar, Visor. _

Army looked… suspicious, but he sat back in his chair.

Oh thank cod.

“Okay. That’s all of my questions.” Army sat back in his chair.

“I don’t have any more questions either.” Skull said.

“Aloha, your mom said that ‘Aloha’ was just a nickname. How did you decide on it?” Mask asked.

She had told him that? Oh.

“Scuba gave me it. I just liked the name, so I kept it.” Aloha gave a grin. “It was fresh! How could I not keep it?”

“…Yeah, Aloha. It’s a nice name.” Mask sat back.

“Can I… uh, ask you guys a question?” Aloha grabbed his wrist, rubbing it nervously.

“Sure.” Army said.

“It was more for Mask, but… uhm… who are you dating?” Aloha saw the alarmed look on Mask’s face. “My mom said you were dating two people… and I’ve just been wondering.”

Skull got up, walked over to Mask and Army, and gave them both a kiss on the head. He turned back around. Army flushed brightly.

“Does that answer your question?”

It made sense now.

They always seemed to flow so well together during battles. This must be why.

“Yeah.”

He couldn’t believe it. They were all in a relationship. All of his crushes.

He felt his heart fall and break onto the floor.

Of course. Of course they were.

He was just unlucky.

He was the odd one out.

_ No, you’re a horrible person. Of course they don’t want to date you. _

He wanted to cry.

But he was too tired.

Everything suddenly felt so restricting. He wanted to jump out of the hospital bed and run back to his apartment to cry.

Why did this always happen to him?

He just wanted to leave everything behind again.

Why did they have to ‘save’ him?

They were just putting him through torture that he could never escape.

_ This is your punishment. _ **_You deserve this._ **

He deserved this. The pain, the suffering…

He just had to pretend like it was all fine.

_ Fine. _

Then they’d stop thinking about it, and he could finally escape. 

“Aloha, --- --- ---y? Yo--- ---- ------- --iet.” He tried to move the blanket over his head so he didn’t have to listen to them, and somewhat succeeded. He couldn’t see them anymore.

He didn’t want to be here anymore. He didn’t want them to be here anymore.

He was a selfish person, allowing people to be this nice to him.

“Alo--!” Skull’s voice?

He wanted to get all of these uncomfortable feelings out of him. He started to scratch at his legs, hoping that something would open and that he could just _ bleed _ .

Hopefully, the uncomfort he felt would pour out along with the blood.

But there was something there, and he couldn’t scratch at his scabs.

_ No, no, no! _

In desperation, he tried to tear off whatever was blocking his hands from scratching until his legs were bloody.

He got some of it off before the blanket was thrown off. He stared at Army.

“Aloha… what are you doing?”

He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to throw up.

He wanted to kiss Army. He wanted to push him away.

~~ He wanted to live. ~~ He wanted to die.

He gathered the remains of his shattered happy personality together and tried to crack a joke.

“I’m uh… doing things you don’t want to see!” Wow… that was lame.

He felt all hope leave him, and he sagged.

“Aloha…” Mask stared from one side of the bed. “That wasn’t funny.”

He stayed silent.

He felt tears creep up, but he tried to force them down.

“Aloha, what were you trying to do?” Army asked again.

“…” He kept his silence, opting to stare at his thighs.

“Aloha, you have to answer if you want us to help you.” Skull said.

But he didn’t  _ want _ help.

Mask walked a little closer to the bed. “Aloha, are you… bothered by us dating?”

No. Not really. He just wished he was included.

“No.” He muttered.

“You just kind of… snapped when we told yo-”

“I’m not bothered by it.” He interrupted Mask. “I don’t care. I don’t care.”

_ You do care, you liar. _

He slowly reached his hand down to try to tear off whatever was on his thighs. Hopefully he’d feel better afterward.

“Aloha…” Army reached his hand down and grabbed Aloha’s hand. “Don’t do tha-”

Aloha snatched his hand away and growled. Army jumped back in surprise.

“Aloha? Did you just growl at Army?” Skull was closer to the bed now.

He was tired of being nice and cheerful. He wanted them to go away.

“Stop trying to help me. Go away.” Aloha grumbled.

Army took a step forward. “But Aloha-”

_ Hurt him. Make sure that he doesn’t want to help you. _

“I don’t fucking care. Go away!” Aloha growled. “I’m tired of you guys. Go away!” He swiped a hand in Army’s direction. Mask stepped forward.

“Don’t you fucking dare hurt Army.” Mask glared.

“JUST GO AWAY! HOW HARD IS THIS TO UNDERSTAND?! STOP TRYING TO HELP ME AND JUST LET ME  **DIE!** ” Aloha screamed.

Aloha could see a tear go down Army’s face. He had never seen Army look so… vulnerable.

_ Good. You hurt him.  _ **_Keep going._ **

“Aloha, please just let us help you!” Army pleaded.

Part of him felt bad about doing this, but that part was muffled by his terror and anger.

“NO! Stop trying to help me! I hate you! I hate all of you!”

Army started to cry. He could hear small sniffles as Army rubbed his face with his sleeve, trying to keep himself composed.

_ Look at what you’ve done. You made Army cry, you  _ **_failure._ **

Skull got closer, his face shrouded with darkness. Aloha shrunk back.

Skull was going to hurt him. He shouldn’t have yelled. Now he couldn’t escape and he was going to be beaten.

“I already answered all of your stupid questions.” Aloha was starting to cry. “What, did you not like some of the answers? Do you want me to change them? I can change them, I can be useful for you-” Aloha’s voice reached a high pitch. He was hysterical. “I can do better! Please don’t hurt me I don’t wanna hurt please-” He tried to retreat to back under the covers.

“We aren’t going to hurt you, Aloha!” Mask said.

“Yes you are I was being bad I’m sorry I’ll do better please I don’t wanna hurt all over please go away please go please-” Aloha was panicking. Skull was still standing there, and he had all of the power, while Aloha had none.

None at all.

He closed his eyes. He tried to ignore all of the sounds around him. Some of it was getting through.

“Aloha, ------ sl----! You’re hyp---en-----ing!” Mask?

No, Mask was joining in! He must be yelling at him.

“Go away! Go away!” Aloha screamed, clutching his ears.

No more noise.

He kept his eyes closed, waiting.

When he opened them, he was alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no clue what to put here.
> 
> uh thanks for reading, i swear aloha will get his happy ending
> 
> ...
> 
> maybe.
> 
> i have the next chapter written, so it's editing time! woohoo


	15. aloha leaves the hospital...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha's last 30 minutes in the hospital.
> 
> ...something interesting happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: mentions of abuse, aloha's mom
> 
> meehee. 
> 
> i know i havent posted a chapter in a while, sorry about that...
> 
> enjoy this chapter.

Days passed, but Aloha barely noticed them. No one visited, and he just slept all the time.

One day, though, Scuba came in.

“’ey ‘loha.” He waved awkwardly.

“Hey Scuba.” Aloha just lay there.

“Uh, jus’ wanna let ya’ know tha’ they’re lettin’ ya’ out today.”

“They are?” He was sort of excited. He could go back to his apartment again!

Scuba rubbed his arms. “Uh, ‘loha… I wanna say sorry.”

“For what? You didn’t do anything, Scuba.” Aloha was confused.

“I jus’… miss ya’. ‘m sorry tha’ I didn’ come ta’ visit. The res’ o’ the S4 said not ta’ visit, an’ I dunno why, bu’ I listene’ ta’ ‘em.”

“It’s fine, Scuba. Really. I just slept alla the time, and I don’t think that visiting me would’ve been fun.” Aloha laughed quietly.

Scuba tapped his foot. “The res’ o’ the S4 says sorry. They say tha’ they didn’ meanta scare ya’.”

Oh.

He felt his hearts break all over again. “How… are they?”

“They’re fine. Army hasn’ been seen for days.” Scuba rubbed his neck. “Oh. He’s here, actually. He wan’ed ta’ give ya’ somethin’, I think.”

“A joke book? I hope it’s a joke book. I want a joke book.” Aloha said jokingly. Scuba laughed half-heartedly.

“I hope it is. I wanna see ya’ crack jokes like there’s no tomorrow!”

“What’s today, anyways?”

Scuba tapped his foot again. “It’s Wednesday. Why ya’ askin’?”

“Oh. There was supposed to be turf war practice today. For the S4.”

“Oh.” Scuba looked awkward standing there. “Well, guess they ain’ doin’ it today.”

Aloha laughed. “They prolly found a replacement for me. Someone not as fresh as me, but prolly more tolerable.”

Scuba screwed up his face a little. “They wouldn’ replace ya’. There’s no one like ya’ anywhere in Inkopolis.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in, don’t be shy!” Aloha called out.

The door opened slowly. It was Army.

“Oh, hey Army! Come to visit me in the hospital before I get out?” Aloha laughed. “Yanno, you could’ve just waited until I got out.”

“Yes. I’m… sorry for intruding.” Army tried to retreat.

“Aw, don’t be scared of little ol’ me! Just because I’m still taller than you doesn’t mean you should be scared of me!” He winked.

“Oh. Alright.” Army stepped back in, carrying a small book.

“Oh! Scuba, I might’ve been right! Maybe he did bring me a joke book!” Aloha laughed.

Scuba laughed with him. “I guess ya’ were righ’! He did bring a joke book!”

Army was silent for a moment. “…it’s not a joke book. I wanted to… give this to you, Aloha.” Army walked over and dropped it on his lap.

“Uh… what is it then?” Aloha asked.

Army looked embarrassed. “Just… open it.”

Aloha looked down at the book. It looked… familiar.

Then it clicked.

This was one of  _ his _ journals.

But where…?

“Wait a minute… where did you find this?” Aloha held the book in his hands, turning it this way and that. “I could’ve sworn I threw alla my journals away…”

“I, uh, found it under your bed.” Army said, flushing bright orange.

Aloha gave him a deadpan look. “Wow, I respect your privacy, and you just straight-up look under my bed? Not cool man, not cool.” He couldn’t even remember putting it there.

“Uh, hate ta’ ask this, bu’, uh… why’re ya’ blushin’ so much, Army?” Scuba asked, a little teasingly.

“I-! Uh. Am not! Blushing.” Army said haltingly.

“You’re acting real sus’ right now, soldier boy.” Aloha opened the journal.

“Woah, ‘loha. Tha’s a lotta writin’.” Scuba said.

“Yeah… I don’t remember what’s in this one.” Aloha muttered. “Army, did you read it?”

Army looked very cornered. “I, uh, may have. Only some parts. It was… enough.”

Now Aloha was concerned. Which journal was this?

He flipped through the pages. As the pages flashed by, he could see some of the words.

_ i’m scared. _

_ mommy, why are you doing this? _

_ she hit me again. _

Aloha was now very anxious. He knew which journal this was.

“Army, how much of this did you read?”

“I read the second half.”

Oh great. The second half was…

_ i saw him again today. he looked so serious and commanding. i made him go on a rant about “following the plan.” he looks so cute when he’s mad. _

_ his eyes are beautiful. just like sweet honey. _

_ his tentacles are so bright! i never thought orange could be so bright! _

_. _

_. _

_. _

_ i think i might have a crush on army. _

Yup. There it was. No wonder Army was blushing so much.

“I am… so sorry you read this.” Aloha was scared. What did Army think of him now?

“Wow, ‘loha. Yer a real romantic. Look at alla those comparin’ lines! Ya’ could prolly write some poetry, bro.” Scuba was teasing him about it now. Great.

“It was very… ahem, flattering to read.” Army looked away.

“Uh…” Aloha was terrified. He had absolutely no clue how to respond without screaming incomprehensibly.

“A’ight, Imma head out. See ya’.” Scuba walked out as fast as he could.

Now it was just Aloha and Army.

“I’m so sorry you read this. I’ll just go and burn this when I get home. That’s what I’ll do.” Aloha murmured.

“It’s fine, Aloha. It was very, um, nice to read.” Army stood there, looking extremely embarrassed.

Aloha wanted to die.

_ Look on the brighter side. He didn’t read the first half. _

That was true.

“You, uh, didn’t read the first half, right? Just double checking.” Aloha asked.

Army shook his head. “No, I didn’t. Should I?”

“No.” He answered quickly. “Please don’t.”

“Alright, I won’t.” Army looked away.

Aloha looked at the journal. He felt a mix of hate and terror just looking at it.

Why did Army have to find this one?

He just couldn’t hide anything properly, huh?

“Aloha, practice is still today, if you’re up for it.” Army said.

“Okay. Yeah, I can do it.” So they hadn’t replaced him. Huh.

A few minutes later, a doctor came into the room. “Aloha, just sign a couple of papers at the front, and you can leave. Also, some lady wants to see you.”

Aloha immediately tensed up. “Uh, yeah! Sure! Give me a moment.” The doctor nodded, leaving the room.

He got up out of the bed, mind reeling.

It had to be his mother. There was no other person it could be.

He started to head for the door, but Army spoke up.

“Aloha… wait a moment.” Aloha turned to look at him. Army was standing right in front of him.

“Yeah, curry bo-mfH!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mwahaha
> 
> cliffhanger!
> 
> im so sorry
> 
> ill try to put the next chapter up soon.


	16. gay panic...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha has gay panic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gay... panic!
> 
> this chapter is kinda short, i think.
> 
> thank you all for reading this story. it means so much to me.

Army pulled Aloha close to him, went up on his tippy toes, and kissed Aloha.

Aloha was  _ amazed. _ It felt like he was a happy kid again, playing turf war with his friends.

Somehow though, it felt better than that.

Army tasted like curry, unsurprisingly. But he had never tasted anything more delicious.

The kiss lasted less than ten seconds.

But it was enough to dazzle Aloha’s world.

They parted, and Army’s face was completely orange.

“I’m, uh… g-going to g-go. See you at p-practice!” Army stuttered out, before running away.

Aloha was starstruck.

“Wha…” Aloha raised a hand to his lips. “What just… did Army just…”

Army had kissed him. _ Army had kissed him! _

He felt a giddy smile reach across his face.

“Army kissed me!” Aloha laughed.

He couldn’t believe it! This was the best thing that had happened to him in years!

Aloha skipped out the door happily. Scuba was standing in the hallway.

“Wha’s gotcha so happy?” Scuba smiled.

Aloha turned to him, bouncing on his heels. “Army kissed me~!” He laughed. “He kissed me~!”

Scuba’s eyes widened. “He did wha’ now? He kissed ya’?” Scuba laughed. “Tha’s great, ‘loha! ‘m proud o’ ya’!”

_ What about Mask and Skull? _

Aloha stopped bouncing. “But… the rest of the S4’s in a relationship already…” Aloha deflated.

Scuba waved his hands. “It’s okay, ‘loha. It’ll be a’ight.” Scuba tapped his foot. “Jus’ focus on the fact tha’ Army kissed ya’.”

Aloha smiled. “Yeah! He kissed me~” Aloha looked down the hallway. He sighed. “I should go sign those papers. I’ll be at the front.” Aloha started to walk again. “See ya’ later, Scub’!”

Scuba gave him another grin. “Yeah, be seein’ ya’, ‘loha!”

  
  
  
  
  


“I, uh, d-d-did something.” Army stuttered.

Mask raised an eyebrow. “Haaaah? Whaaat did you doooo?”

“I, uh, might have, um… kissed Aloha.” He whispered the last part.

“Armyyyy, I caaan’t heaaar youuuu.” Mask sighed.

“I-I KISSED ALOHA!” Army burst out.

“Youuu did whaaaat nooow?!” Mask sat up. “Youuu kiiiissed  _ Alooohaaa _ ?”

Army nodded, clearly embarrassed. “Yes. Y-yes I did.”

“Didn’t we say we’d leave him alone?” Skull walked over.

“Oh! Uh. Hi! Skull.”

“Hello, Army. It took me forever to get here.” Skull sighed. “I thought we agreed to leave him alone until we knew he felt better?” Skull crossed his arms.

“He was joking at me!” The shorter teen protested.

“Hooow coooome  _ Armyyy  _ gets to kiiiiiss Alooohaaa first?” Mask complained.

“Because you were too slow, Mask!” Army said. “I saw a good possibility, and I took it. There’s a reason why I’m the strategist.”

Mask groaned.

“Look, Mask, we have to agree not to mess with Aloha until we know everything, okay?” Skull sat down. “We don’t know everything yet.”

“I waaasn’t the oneeee who broooke the prooomise, thouuugh.” Mask whined.

“Well, Army already messed up our previous plan, so we’re sticking to an edited version instead.” Army scowled.

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did. It’s too late now, anyways. Army, you can have your fun.” Skull patted Army’s head.

Army smiled a little. “Great.”

“Aw maaaan.” Mask said. “Thaaat suuuuucks.”

“Let’s just wait for him to get out.” Skull pulled Army onto a chair.

  
  
  
  


Aloha walked towards the front entrance of the hospital, stretching out his arms.

“Glad that’s over with~!” He yawned. “I should prolly head to practice now.”

“Hello, Aloha. Are you ready for practice?” Skull was sitting on one of the chairs in the reception area. Mask and Army were sitting with him. Mask was playing something on his phone, and Army had his face in one of his manuals.

“Yeah! I’m excited.” Aloha replied cheerfully.

Mask rolled his eyes. “Leeeets goooo alreaaaady.” They all got up, and Aloha could see that Army still had orange glowing on his face. 

They headed to Deca Tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go!
> 
> next chapter: the s4 have fun
> 
> also! the google doc this is on has reached 100 pages! im so happy!


	17. turf war!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The S4 have a turf war!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man what a happy chapter!
> 
> this was fun to write...

“It’s a hit! Aloha splats Specs of Team Blue!” Pearl yelled. Aloha gave a wink to Specs’s ghost.

“Too bad~! You were too slow~!” Aloha grinned.

“Good job Aloha!” Army called out.

“Niiiice…” Mask called.

Skull just gave him a thumbs up.

They were playing on New Albacore Hotel. They had bumped into the Blue Team when they got to Deca Tower, so they decided to have a turf war.

So far, the S4 was winning. 

Aloha laughed, swimming up to Goggles, and dancing around him, dodging all of his attacks. This was the most fun he’d had in months.

“Aw~ Having trouble hitting me?” Aloha laughed.

“I’ll hit you!” Goggles laughed back. 

Aloha aimed straight at Goggles. “Not if I hit you first~!” He was about to fire, when Goggles exploded in a spray of ink in front of him.

“Skull from the S4 Team has hit Goggles!” Marina’s voice said.

Aloha turned to Skull, pouting. “Aw man… I was going to hit him!”

“You were taking a while. I thought you were having trouble hitting him.”

Aloha shook his head. “No, I was just having a bit of fun.”

“Caaaan youuu guuys stoooop taaaalking and just baaattle?” Mask said.

Aloha started to clean up a bit, covering the blue ink that surrounded him with pink. He was glad the the rest of the S4 had agreed to use pink. He felt more comfortable, using his natural ink color.

“Ah!” Army cried out in alarm.

“Blue Team’s Bobble hat has hit Army!” Marina called out in alarm.

Aloha was about to swim over and splat Bobble, but Mask raced ahead of him. He swam up the wall, and brought his roller down.

“Bobble has been splatted by Mask’s Carbon Roller. That’s some seriously vicious revenge, yo!” Pearl said. Mask smirked. 

“Haaah.”

“You know you didn’t have to do that, right, Mask?” Army was back, and he looked slightly flustered. “Apologies. She came out of nowhere. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Iiiiit’s fiiiine.” Mask chuckled. “I waaaanted to dooo thaaaat anaywayyyys.”

“And it’s a hit! Skull snipes Headphones from Team Blue!” Pearl yelled. Aloha looked up. Skull was straightfaced, and there was a lollipop in his mouth.

...where had that come from?

Aloha shook his head, and started up the ramp to get some turf. 

He was painting the ground when something hit him in the head.

“Ow…” He turned to look at what hit him. 

A balled up piece of paper…?

What could be on it? Why did it hit him?

He decided to just pocket the paper and look at it later.

“And that’s the game!” The pair called out.

They headed to the lobby to wait for the results.

“And…” Judd held up a pink flag. 

“Team S4 wins!” 

Aloha cheered. Army had a smile on his face, Mask laughed a little, and Skull… ate another piece of candy.

Seriously, where was the candy coming from? 

The better question to ask, really, was whether or not Aloha could have some of the candy.

After the two teams congratulated each other, the S4 team headed for the food truck.

“Heeeey, Alooohaaa. Whaaat’s thaaat iiin your pooocket?” Mask pointed to the paper.

“Oh yeah… it hit me in the head earlier.” Aloha pulled it out and opened up the crumpled piece of paper.

Oh. His stomach dropped.

It was… a picture. Of him and the S4. 

He turned the paper over. 

_ liar.  _

His mom’s handwriting. There was also a small smear of purple and pink ink.

“Purple and pink ink?” He mumured quietly.

Who…?

It couldn’t be Skull, since he was right next to him.

“What is that?” Skull leaned over. His face went stony. “Why is there purple ink on it.” 

“Hm?” Army looked over. “But the last turf war didn’t have purple ink…” 

“Thaaat’s ominouuuuus.” Mask drawled.

“The ink is dry.” Aloha said slowly, feeling the ink stain with his thumbs.

“So it’s not from the battle we just had.” Army said. “Hm…”

“Whooo has piiiink and puuuurple ink?” Mask asked.

“Well… everyone in Team Pink has pink ink…” Aloha said quietly. “This note is from my mom. It has her handwriting.” Aloha’s hands trembled a little. “She’s only met Scuba.”

“Do youuuu thiiiink…” Mask said slowly. “Thaaaat it’s Scuuuuba and Aviaaaators’s iiink?” 

Aloha froze. “That’s… a possibility.” He hoped that it wasn’t. He couldn’t bear the thought of Scuba getting hurt, or worse… killed.

“Skull, where are you going!?” Army yelled.

There was no response.

“We should prolly go after him before he gets lost…” Aloha mumured.

“Skull, come back!” Army started after Skull. “Wait for us!” 

Mask looked at Aloha, and shrugged, before following Army.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "man what a happy chapter!" i said at the beginning.
> 
> oh boy oh boy.
> 
> there's a choice coming up soon that's very important....
> 
> let's hope that the right choice is chosen.


	18. choice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha begins his journey home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i uh
> 
> production's slowed down on this...
> 
> i think once i get past this bit, i'll be good but uh
> 
> yeah woops.

Aloha stood there awkwardly, staring at the photo. “We all look… happy.” The photo was clearly taken during their previous battle. 

Aloha had his eyes closed, and his mouth was was open in a laugh. His arms were opened up wide. Army was looking over at Aloha, and he had a soft smile on his face. Mask was bent over, probably laughing as a bomb exploded near a patch of blue ink. Skull had just fired a shot, the kickback making his bandanna rise up just enough that Aloha could see a smile on Skull’s face.

It was a good picture. 

He stared at the picture for another moment.

He should probably text Scuba to make sure he was okay. He pulled out his phone. He had six messages from Scuba.

divininlove: loha i cant find avi

divininlove: he won respon ta any of my messages

divininlove: hes not at the apartmnet loha m scared

divininlove: loha i jus got a pic of him bleedin

divininlove: m panickin

divininlove: m gon try ta find him

… 

divininlove: I have your friend, Visor.

Aloha froze. “No way.” Mask had been right. 

Knowing his mother, the ink was definitely from Aviators and Scuba.

He read the next message.

divininlove: You know where to go.

There was no way, was there? 

She couldn’t have dragged them all the way back to her house. 

What was he supposed to do? 

_ Go get them back. _

He had to save them. He knew what would happen if he went… but if he didn’t go…

_ Scuba and Aviators might die. Because you were too  _ **_scared_ ** _ to save them. Is that what you’re going to tell Skull? His best friend died because you're a **cowardly fool**? _

_ Go, you  _ **_coward._ **

“Ughhh…” He shook his head. “Fine. Fine!” He shoved his phone into his pocket. “I’m going! I’m going!”

He could feel fear start to curl up in his stomach. 

Hopefully, it wouldn’t hurt too much.

_ Time to go home, pink boy. _

  
  
  
  


“Skull, slow  _ down! _ ” Army yelled. 

Skull powered ahead. 

"Come on, Skull! Slow down!" He yelled. Skull wouldn't stop. Army groaned, and started to sprint.

Army caught up and grabbed Skull’s wrist. “SKULL!” 

Skull turned around. “What.” Skull was crying.

He was crying?

Skull never cried… 

“Skull… just slow down. Let’s think about this.” Army said softly, clutching Skull’s hand tightly. “We should plan this. We don’t want to rush into this.”

“...fine.” Skull looked away. 

Army smiled sadly. “Let’s go back to Aloha and Mask.”

“I’m riiiiight heeeere.” Mask said.

Army turned to look at Mask. 

“...where is Aloha?” Army asked slowly. 

Mask rubbed his neck. “I doooon’t knoooow. I thouuught heee was behiiiind meeee.”

“You lost  _ Aloha?! _ ” Army yelled.

“Looook, I thouuuught he waaaas  _ behiiiind meeee! _ ” Mask yelled.

“I can’t believe you! You lost Aloha!” Army yelled.

Mask sighed. “Leeeet’s juuuust gooo back tooo wheeere heee waaaas. Maaaaybe heeee’s stiiiiill theeeere.” Mask said quietly, his voice wavering.

Skull grabbed both of their hands and pulled them back the way they came.

“Come on.” He dragged them back to the Square.

… 

There was no sign of Aloha anywhere in the Square. Army let go of Skull’s hand, walking forward and kneeling on the floor.

“He’s… gone.” Army said, standing up . He was holding the picture. 

“Where could he have gone?” Skull said quietly. 

“Hiiiiis mooooom.” Mask said. “It haaaas to beeee.” It made sense.

“How are we going to find him?” Skull said. “We don’t know where his mom lives.”

Army headed towards a train station. “He can’t have gotten far. Maybe someone’s seen him?” 

“Okay.” Skull said, following Army.

Mask sighed. “Aaareee you suuure abouuut thiiis?”

“Yes. Hurry up.” Mask followed them.

As soon as they had reached the train station, Army headed for an information desk, Skull following behind the shorter inkling.

Mask decided to look around. But where should he look?

**You have a choice.**

- **Check the left train?**

  
- **Check the right train?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the chapter.
> 
> so i had the idea to do a bad ending, but my friend told me to write a good one too.
> 
> so now y'all have a choice! 
> 
> it's a stupid choice, but it's important.
> 
> left train or right train?
> 
> if this heads for the bad ending, i'll go back and post the good one too...


	19. left train.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mask looks in the left train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is what you wanted...

Mask headed for the left train. He saw a flash of bright pink as Aloha hurried onto the train.

“Aloooohaaa!” He called, running for the doors. “Alooohaaa, I neeed toooo taaaalk too youuuu!”

Aloha looked like he had been caught. “M-Mask? What are you doing here?”

Mask sighed. “Weeeeell, I’m  _ tryyyying _ to keeeeep you froooom dooooing sooooomething stuuuupid.” 

Aloha backed further into the train. Mask walked onto the train, and grabbed his shirt. 

“Alooohaaa, I knooow whaaat you’re tryyying to dooo.” Mask said quietly. “Dooon’t bee stuuuupid and ruuuush into a siiiituation bliiiind as a baaaat.”

Aloha looked away. “But I need to help them…”

“Theeen leeet us heeeelp youuu!” Mask said. “Pleaaaaase!” Mask loosened his grip on Aloha’s shirt. “I doooon’t wanna looooose youuu.”

Aloha stared at him, a blush starting to form on his face. “You… don’t wanna lose me?” Aloha said slowly. “I-” Aloha looked down. “Um. That’s kinda gay, Masky~” Aloha laughed nervously.

Mask groaned, letting go of Aloha’s shirt. “Shuuuut up.” 

Aloha laughed. “Come on Masky, you know I’m right.” 

Mask looked at Aloha’s face.

So cute and innocent looking…

He leaned towards the pink inkling.

Aloha backed up a little. “Mask? What are you doing?”

“Oh. There you two are.” Army said. Mask turned around rapidly. 

“H-heeey.” Mask stuttered. Dang it! He missed his chance again.

“Do you mind if we all ride the train together?” Skull walked into the train.

“Uh… no?” Aloha said awkwardly. “Why would I care? You guys can do whatever you want.”

“We’re going to help you, Aloha.” Army said, stepping onto the train. “Where are you going?”

Aloha’s eyes darted between the three standing before him. “Uh, I’m sorry?” He stepped back again. “What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere!” He laughed nervously. “I’m not doing anything!” 

“Aloha, please don’t lie.” Skull said softly. “I care about your safety.”

Aloha’s face lit up with pink. “W-well, um…” His shoulders sagged. “Fine. I’m… going to my mom’s house. I think… she took Scuba and Aviators.”

Skull was silent. 

“Sheeee did whaaaat?” Mask was surprised. “Isn’t thaaaat… illeeeegaaal?”

Army stared at him. “Are you serious? This woman assulted you and you’re suprised she would squidnap someone?” 

“I gueeess you’re riiiiight.” Mask said. 

“So what were you planning to do, Aloha?” Skull asked.

“Uh…” Aloha looked at his feet. “I was going to, um, try to get them back?”

“Did you have a plan to do this?” Army asked.

Aloha shuffled a little. “No…”

“Okay then. Aloha, we’re going to help you out. Where does she live?” 

“I, uh… a little town by the ocean.” Aloha said. “I’ll take you guys there.” 

They sat down, Aloha and Army in the middle, with Mask and Skull on either side. The train started to move.

After a couple of minutes, Army spoke up. “So how long is the ride?” He asked.

“Two hours…” Aloha said. “Get comfortable, I guess.” He leaned back. 

“Two hours?!” Army exclaimed. 

Aloha mumbled something softly, before closing his eyes.

“He looks peaceful…” Skull muttered.

“‘m still awake…” Aloha mumbled quietly, curling up slightly. A few minutes later, he was fast asleep, his breathing even. He started to lean on Army’s shoulder, snoring softly. 

Army patted Aloha’s head. “Get some sleep.” 

“Heee’s alreaaaady sleeeeping, Army.” Mask said.

“I know.” Army said quietly. 

Skull stared at Aloha. “He’s… been through a lot the past couple of years, huh?”

“Yes…” Army looked down at the pink inkling sleeping on him. “I wish we could do more for him.”

“But its hard when he tries to hide things from us.” Skull said quietly.

Mask stared at Aloha. He looked so peaceful, sleeping like that. It was so different from the happy, upbeat, smiling Aloha that he knew so well.

Well, that he thought he knew so well. Everything had just turned topsy-turvy in a few short days. Mask really wished that he hadn’t found those pills. Maybe all of this would have been fine if he didn’t.

“Mask? Did you hear what I said?” Army was talking to him. 

“Haaah? Whaaat diiid you saaay?” Mask asked.

“I asked you for ideas. How do you think we should do this? Its a hostage situation, as far as we know. And we don’t know what she’s capable of, so we have to be very careful in our approach.” Army said quickly. “We also have to take Aloha into consideration. He’s… a wild card. We need to make sure that he doesn’t get hurt.”

“Weeeell, I couuuld tryyy to haaack heeer phooone agaiiiin.” Mask offered.

“Again?” Army said.

“Yeaaaah…” Mask said. “I diiid it wheeeen I waaaaas arguuuing with heeeer in the Squaaaaare.”

Army sighed. “Mask, you need to stop doing that.” 

“Buuut its fuuuun…” Mask said. “Besiiiides, I scaaared heeeer.”

Army was silent, just awkwardly sitting there with Aloha on his shoulder. 

They sat there in silence, watching the outside scenery fly by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's see where this goes.


	20. coffee.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The S4 go to a coffee shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ill add notes tomorrow m sleepy

After what seemed like an hour of silence, Army and Skull were fast asleep. Mask looked over at Aloha. His once-peaceful face was now twisted in fear and terror. His arms grabbed Army around the waist, and squeezed him tightly. Mask could hear quiet muttering.

“No… Scuba… hang in there, you’ll be okay! The ambulance is coming…” Aloha murmured quietly. “No… no, please no! You can’t be dead, you can’t be-” 

Mask reached over and shook Aloha’s shoulder lightly. “Aloooohaaa… waaaake uuup…”

Aloha sat up with a jolt. “Scuba no!” He screamed. Mask froze. Aloha looked around, blinking blearily. Some of the train passengers were looking at Aloha in alarm.

“Oh.” Aloha slumped back. “It was a dream…” 

Army was somehow still asleep, but Skull had an eye open, and was looking right at Aloha.

Mask was now wondering whether Skull had been asleep at all. Maybe he had just been watching all of them. Had he seen the manga Mask was reading? He hoped not.

“Are youuuu okaaaay, Alooohaaa?” Mask asked.

“mfine.” He mumbled, putting his head down. “Jus’ a bad dream.” He looked at the other passengers on the train. They stared back at him in confusion and a little repulsion. Aloha shrunk back slightly.

Aloha stayed like that for another thirty minutes, silently staring out the window, before Army woke up, yawning.

“Aaaare we there yeeet?” He yawned, stretching. 

“No.” Skull said, eyes still closed. 

So he  _ wasn’t _ asleep! Mask was right! 

...had he seen his manga?

“Okaaaay…” Army said sleepily. Aloha looked at Army for a moment, before focusing his gaze back on the scenery outside. He stared at the scenery for a moment, and then jumped up suddenly.

“We have to get off.” He said, heading for the doors. Skull got up and followed. Army blinked slowly, and tried to get up, before falling right back down. Mask rolled his eyes, and helped Army up. The walked to the doors together.

The train slowed to a stop, and the doors slid open. The foursome got off the train.

Aloha started to walk leisurely, stretching his arms. “There’s a coffee shop nearby, so we can get curry boy here some caffeine.” Aloha pointed to a small building in the distance.

“Cooffee?” Army yawned. “I want coffeeee…”

“We should get him some coffee.” Skull said. “Let’s go. Lead the way, Aloha.”

Aloha gave them a thumbs up.

Once they had reached the coffee shop, Aloha stopped. He looked around, and then quickly opened the shop’s door, beckoning them to hurry inside. As soon as everyone was inside, he closed the door behind them.

“Whyyyy did youuu dooo thaaaat?” Mask asked, confused.

Aloha shook his head, and raised a finger to his lips. “Be quiet!” He hissed.

Mask was struck with a feeling of doom. Why did Aloha want them to be quiet?

“Hey, is anyone here?” Aloha called out softly. “It’s Aloha.” There was some shuffling, and a short girl poked her head out.

“Oh! ‘loha! ‘ey!” She came out, carrying a small pot of coffee.

“Coffee…” Army muttered.

“I’m not really supposed to be here, but I just wanted to get coffee for the guy who’s drunk on sleep.”

She grinned. “A’ight!” The girl turned to Army. “’ow d’ya like yer coffee?”

Army was silent for a moment. “Black. A little sugar.”

She set down the pot on the counter, before ducking behind the bar.

“D’ any o’ y’all wan’ sum’?” The girl’s voice called out from behind the bar.

“Nah, I’m good. Do you guys want anything?” Aloha sat down at a booth, Army soon following.

Skull was silent for a moment. “Do you have… hot chocolate?”

The girl’s head popped back up. “Oh, we gots a sweetie ‘ere! A’ight, ho’ choc’late. Wan’ whipped cream?”

Skull nodded. The girl gave him a thumbs up. Skull sat down.

Mask looked around the coffee shop. The building looked old, and there were many potted plants everywhere. There was a couple of pictures pinned onto a corkboard. He decided that he’d look at it later.


	21. coffee, again...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More coffee...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow im trying to get past this bit as fast as possible so we can get to the good part...

He refocused his attention to the girl pouring coffee. She was short, and had pink tentacles cut short. She had a beanie on her head that looked a little too big for her. She also was wearing a t-shirt, with a brown apron over it. Her grey eyes were focused on the coffee she was making.

“So, mask guy, wan’ some coffee?” She asked him, pausing her movements for a moment.

“Suuuure.” Mask said.

“Whadya wan’?” She asked.

Mask shrugged. “Surpriiiise meeee.”

She nodded. “Do ya’ like lav’nder?”

He nodded. She grinned again.

“Perfec’!” She went back to work, and Mask headed towards the corkboard.

There was a picture of that girl on the board. She was with a guy in a scuba mask, both of them grinning widely.

Wait. A scuba mask?

He looked closer at the picture, and could see Aloha running towards the other two, mouth open as if he was saying something.

When he looked at the other pictures, he could see that almost all of the pictures had the three of them.

“Heeeey… uh… miiiss?” Mask turned back towards the girl.

“Call me Mocha!” She said cheerfully.

“Moooocha… okaaay. Whaaat are these piiictures?” Mask pointed at the pictures in question.

Mocha stared at the corkboard. “Oh, those? Tha’s me an’ m’ brother! An’ ‘loha’s in some o’ ‘em.”

“Youuuur broooother?” He asked. “Whooo’s youuur brooother?”

Mocha grinned. “Scuba! ‘e’s real nice. The bes’ big bro!” Ah. That made sense. The accent was similar.

Aloha laughed. “Yeah, I think one of the pictures was taken when we went to the beach, remember?”

Mocha looked like she was thinking. “Was tha’ the time we buried ya’ in the sand?”

“Yeah. Y’all scared me! I was fast asleep one moment, and then I woke up in the sand!” Aloha said.

“’was funny though!” Mocha laughed.

“So Scuba lived here too?” Skull asked.

“Yeah! The three of us would go out and cause loads of problems.” Aloha said.

“Remember when the old coffee guy yelled a’ us for takin’ alla the coffee beans?” Mocha laughed.

“Yeah. That was… weird. What’d you do with alla those beans anyways?”

“’made a buncha coffee.” She replied.

Aloha shrugged. “Makes sense.”

Mocha set four mugs onto a tray and carried it over to the table. Mask walked over and slid into the seat next to Skull. Skull looked at his face, and reached his hand over, placing it on Mask’s leg. He started to rub Mask’s leg.

“It’ll be okay.” Skull whispered quietly.

Mask could feel his nerves start to soothe. He hadn’t even realized that he was tense.

“So I know ya’ said ya’ didn’ wan’ any coffee, ‘loha, bu’ I made ya’ somethin’ anyways.” Mocha said, setting mugs down on the table. “So for drill sar’ent, black coffee wi’ a bita sugar. For sweetie over there, ho’ choc’late wi’ whipped cream an’ a cookie. For mask guy, lav’nder latte. It’s pre’’y sweet. An’ for ‘loha… strawberry latte.” She winked. “Enjoy!”

“Thanks Mocha.” Aloha said.

Army immediately started to drink his, albeit slowly. Aloha picked his mug up, blowing on it. Skull grabbed the cookie, and in an instant, it was gone.

Mocha stared in disbelief. “How’d ya’… nevermind.”

“Practice.” Skull said.

Mocha shrugged. “Alrighty.” She went back to the bar, cleaning up.

Mask stared at his coffee. Should he take off his mask?

He reached his hands up, and unclipped the mask. He put it down on his lap.

Mocha made a small yelping noise, and Mask looked over at her. She had spilled coffee on herself.

“Are you okay?” Mask asked.

“Yeah, ‘m good. Wha’ happened ta’ yer face?” She asked, wrapping her hand with a towel.

“Car accident.” He said quietly.

“Ah. ‘m glad yer okay.” She said. Mask nodded awkwardly, and picked up his mug. It was warm, and the lavender smelled amazing.

“So why’re ya’ back, ‘loha? Thought ya’ said ya’ weren’ comin’ back?” Mocha asked.

Aloha sat there silently, holding his mug. “My mom… might have squidnapped Scuba.”

“Wha’?” Mocha exclaimed. “Why would she do tha’?”

Aloha looked at his companions. “Well… she found out I’ve been hanging out with this lot. And she got… mad? Also Scuba might’ve lied to her…”

“Lied? ‘bout wha’?”

“He has a boyfriend now.” Aloha explained. “He told her he had a girlfriend.”

“Ah. My bro has a boyfriend now? Good for ‘im!” Mocha said happily. “So she squidnapped Scuba? An’ the boyfriend, ‘m guessin’.”

Aloha nodded. “I came to get them back.”

Mocha looked like she was thinking. “I could help!” She walked out from behind the counter. “I gots a key for tha’ house.” She dangled a little key from her hand.

Aloha stared in disbelief. “How did you…”

“I have m’ ways. So wha’s the plan?” Mocha smiled. “I haven’ had this much fun inna while!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so mocha.
> 
> i wanted to have some character that had a connection to aloha before he left the town. she isnt an oc, she's literally a character i made up on the spot.
> 
> my brain process:
> 
> me: oh i need a character for this coffee shop.
> 
> brain: why not make it a character that you put effort into
> 
> me: what no-
> 
> brain: too late. what's her relation to aloha?
> 
> me: cod dAMMI-
> 
> so yeah, she's here now...
> 
> time to write some death scene- I MEAN WHAT


	22. even more coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And more coffee....
> 
> and plans, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not gonna lie, i completely forgot about this for a couple of days...
> 
> uhm.
> 
> i've been writing two other things along with this? and i wasn't paying attention to this. if yall want me to post them, let me know? cause i need a second opinion. 
> 
> one of them is a hanahaki thing with army, because hanahaki is just... interesting? and then the other is in this timeline, but its like how scuba and aviators got together.
> 
> anyways, hope you enjoy this long overdue chapter.

Aloha pointed at Army, who looked slightly more alert. “He’s our strategist.”

Army took another sip of his coffee. “So you have a key?”

“Yup!”

Army sighed. “In that case, we could do two things. One, forcibly break in and go completely on offense, or two, sneak in. The first one could go horribly, horribly wrong, because this is a hostage situation. We don’t even know where she’s keeping them, and I’m assuming that only Aloha and Mocha know the house well.” Army stopped for a moment to take another sip of his coffee. “By the way, this coffee is good. Thanks.”

Mocha grinned. “Glad ya’ like it!”

Army nodded, and then continued. “The second option might take longer, but it’s safer. If we do this option, we could safely get them back, and she’d never know we were there. I would say that we need to know when his mother leaves, so we can make sure we don’t get ambushed.”

Mocha lit up. “Well, tha’s easy! ‘loha’s mum goes ta’ church tomorrow! She hasa meetin’ with the leaders ev’ry week!”

Army nodded. “Alright. That works.”

Skull pulled out a bag. “Do I need this? Just in case. I can be lookout.” Mask could see that it was clearly his E-liter.

Army looked at it for a moment. “You can be lookout. Is there anywhere Skull can sit to watch?”

“Wha’s tha’?” Mocha said curiously.

“My E-liter.” Skull said.

“Oh. Well, ‘ere’s a cliff no’ too far from the house. Ya’ can sit there, I suppose.” Mocha said.

Skull nodded.

Aloha spoke up. “So… we’re doing this tomorrow?” His hands shook slightly as he took a small sip of his coffee.

“Yes. Mocha, do you know what time she leaves?”

“Six in the mornin’.” She replied.

“So we get up at 6.” Army said. Mask groaned.

“Six? That’s so early…”

Army gave him a glare. “I will forcibly drag you out of bed, Mask.”

“Y’alls can stay a’ m’ place.” Mocha offered.

Aloha nodded. “That’d be great, Mocha. Thank you so much.”

Mocha grinned. “’course!” She looked out the window. “The town’s been real quiet lately. Somethin’s wrong. Dunno wha’.” 

“My mum’s still here, that’s what’s wrong.” Aloha laughed dryly. 

Mocha laughed nervously. “Yeah…” She rubbed her shoulder. “Yeah.” 

They all sat there silently.

“Soooo whaaaaat are we dooooing noooow?” Mask asked quietly.

Mocha looked at him. “Well, I sugges’ y’all don’ go ou’side. ‘loha’s mum is real scary, an’ she’s prolly go’ all sortsa people ou’ there watchin’ for ya’.” She looked around. “I could… teach y’all how ta’ make coffee. I also go’ games?” 

“Gaaaames? Whaaaat kind oooof gaaaames?” Mask asked. His interest was peaked. 

“I go’ video games, an’ I go’ board games. Which one ya’ wan’?” 

“He wants the video games, prolly.” Aloha said, smiling. 

“Oh, a gamer, hah?” She smiled. “Yeah, I’ll letcha play. I also go’ books an’ stuffs. An’ uhm… I go’ sum cookbooks?”

Army perked up. “Do you have curry recipes?” 

“Hm… think so. I also go’ pastry cookbooks.” Mocha said. 

Aloha sighed. “Guess I’ll make something too.”

Skull stared silently. 

Mocha laughed nervously. “Yer kinda scary, skull man.”

After everyone had finished, Mocha directed everyone to various different activities. Army ended up making curry for dinner, and Aloha had made small cakes.

They all fell asleep, hoping that tomorrow would go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter, everyone die- I MEAN EVERYTHING GOES AS PLANNED EVERYONE WILL BE OKAY


	23. nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloha has a nightmare, and he has some bad thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhh warnings for bad thoughts. (they in italics)
> 
> the nightmare isn't described.
> 
> also, whoever found me on instagram, uhhh hi im not sure if you'll see this uhhh hi

Aloha sat up with a jolt. He stared at the opposite wall, clutching his shirt as he breathed heavily.

“Ugh.... what time is it?” He tried to reach for his phone, reaching over Skull to try to grab the device from the side table. His arm wasn’t long enough, so he tried to lean his body just a little bit farther…

“Oof-” His arm gave out, and he fell onto Skull. He tried to quickly scramble back up, hoping that he hadn’t accidentally woken up his teammate. 

He heard a low groan come from Skull. 

“Shit.” He muttered between his teeth. Hopefully the purple inkling wouldn’t _completely_ wake up.

“Aloha…?” He heard Skull say softly. Well fuck. Skull was awake. “What are you doing…?” He sat up, staring at Aloha.

Aloha rubbed his neck. “Well, uh… I was just… trying to see what time it was.”

Skull stared at him with an unblinking look. He looked slightly less intimidating without his signature skull bandanna, but Aloha still couldn’t help shrinking back a little. He was unable to stop the sudden tears from falling down his face.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Skull asked.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine though!” Aloha waved his hands. “Don’t worry about it.” He looked at his pillow.

Skull was silent for a moment, and then reached his hands out to cup Aloha’s face gently.

“S-Skull? What are y-you doing?” Aloha stuttered, surprised by the gentle approach Skull was taking.

“You’re crying.” Skull said, wiping away Aloha’s tears with his thumbs. “Are you really okay?”

Aloha stared at Skull’s face. As he stared, something just… snapped in him. “I… I…” He started to cry harder. “N-no…” He hiccuped. “I’m no-ot…”

Skull’s face softened, and he scooted closer to Aloha, scooping the pink inkling onto his lap. He patted Aloha’s back, rubbing Aloha’s head with his other hand.

“It’s okay. I’m here. You’re safe.” Skull whispered in his ear. “We’ll protect you.”

Aloha sobbed into Skull’s shoulder. “I-I’m so-orry! I-I’m so s-scared that sh-she d-did something h-h-horrible to them a-a-a-and-”

“Don’t worry.” Skull whispered. “If she did anything to them, I’ll make sure she **pays**.” Skull’s voice darkened near the end of his sentence. Aloha shivered.

Mask shifted from the other side of the bed, and Aloha stiffened.

Skull pulled away, kissing the top of Aloha’s head. “Go back to sleep, Aloha. I’ll protect you.”

Aloha stared blankly at him. “D-did you just-”

Skull smiled faintly. “Go to sleep, Aloha.” He laid back down.

Aloha stared at him, and then laid down.

“Sweet dreams, Aloha.” Skull whispered.

He closed his eyes…

  
  
  
  
  


“WAKE UP EVERYONE! ITS SIX!” Army’s voice dragged Aloha out of sleep.

He sat up, blinking blearily. “Ugh…” He rubbed his face. “Too early…” He fell back onto his pillow, groaning.

The next thing he knew was the cold, hard floor.

“FUCK!” Mask yelled, seemingly also on the floor. “THAT FUCKING HURT!”

“Your fault for not getting up, Mask.” Army said. Skull chuckled softly.

Aloha opened his eyes, seeing Mask next to him. Mask stood up, unbalanced.

“This sucks…” Mask groaned.

Aloha stared at Mask’s feet blankly.

_ They’re probably already dead. _

_ What’s the point of getting up? _

_ Just lie there and think about how Scuba must have screamed and screamed and screamed for help. _

_ “HELP ME! SOMEONE, ANYONE, HELP ME!” _

_ Who do you think she killed first? _

_ Scuba must have screamed when Aviators died right in front of him… _

_ He would have screamed and tried to comfort him and tell him that everything was going to be okay, he would be fine. _

_ And then Aviators dies. _

_ Scuba’s poor little heart. _

_ It must have broken into a million tiny pieces. _

_ He always did get sooo attached to the people he loved. _

_ Or, Aviators would have screamed as Scuba died in front of him. _

_ He would have tried to help him. _

_ Too late! _

_ He’s already long gone… _

_ He would have eventually gone silent, just broken beyond repair, **begging** for someone to take his pain away. _

_ All this, because you’re a **weak little boy** who can’t save **anyone**. _

_ You’re a  **di** **rty little liar** and you know it. _

_ Just d- _

“ALOHA!” Aloha was being… held? He looked up.

Skull was holding him, and looking down with concern.

Aloha looked around, seeing Army’s distraught face, and the fright on Mask’s face.

Army spoke, words rushing out of his mouth. “Aloha, thank goodness. You weren’t responding, and I wasn’t sure if you were okay, and-”

Mask squeezed Army’s hand, and Army fell silent.

“You looked really haunted.” Mask said. “Army started freaking out when you didn’t respond to him, or any of the rest of us.”

“You also started whimpering.” Skull said softly.

Aloha blinked. “I kind of… spaced out for a second there, huh?”

Army bit his lip. “Ten minutes.” Army started to shake, clutching Mask’s hand tightly. “You spaced out for… ten minutes.”

“We tried to find Mocha, but she’s just… gone. There’s a note and some coffees downstairs.” Mask said. “Oh, and the key.”

“Maybe we should leave Aloha here, and just take care of this ourselves. He seems very stressed, and we don’t want him getting hurt.” Skull said quietly.

_ Nonono I can’t let them go there by themselves what if they get hurt I have to go with them- _

“Nonono, you need me to get through the house. You don’t know what it’s like in there, you need a guide.” Aloha waved his hands. “I’ll be fine. Mask, you said there’s coffee downstairs?”

They all stared at him. Aloha gave them what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Mask sighed “Yeah.”

“Then let’s go! I’ll feel better after some coffee!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhh i don't have a good end note
> 
> sorry that this took so long, i'm writing five things at once, and i got really distracted.
> 
> hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	24. the house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They head to the house. Rescue mission, start!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long, online classes and stuff
> 
> uh this is a bad chapter i apologize
> 
> ALSO?? KETCHUP V MAYO SPLATFEST?? IM SO EXCITED?? AHH

The note from Mocha basically said that she was sorry that she missed them, but she had decided that she would get up early to set up a distraction, just in case.

Aloha sipped his coffee. He wasn’t really… prepared to go back to the house. The trauma of living there was still embedded in his mind.

…his back hurt.

“I’m going to head for that cliff Mocha was talking about.” Skull said, getting up. “If I see anything weird, I’ll shoot into the house as a warning. Good luck.” He walked to the door. “…stay safe.”

Army nodded solemnly. “We will try. Thank you, Skull.” He wrote something in his manual as Skull closed the door.

Mask was silent, looking out a window as he drank his coffee.

_ What if they see your room? _

Aloha tensed up. That would be bad.

_ They might get so mad that they do something stupid. You don’t want  _ **_that_ ** _ weighing on your conscience, do you? _

__

Aloha cleared his throat. “Uh, hey, guys?”

Mask and Army’s heads snapped to look at him. “Yes, Aloha?” Army said.

Aloha rubbed his neck. “Can we try to  _ not _ go into my room? I just don’t really want to see it.”

Army nodded. “I understand. Yes, we will try to avoid it.”

As much as his room made him feel… safe, a lot of bad things had happened in there, and he didn’t need any memories resurfacing.

Army stood up. “Shall we go?”

Mask got up out of the chair. “Yeaaah.”

Aloha got up. “Y-yeah. Let’s go!”

They walked through town quietly. Aloha squeezed his hands nervously as the group of three got closer to the house.

When they reached it, Mask took out the key, and unlocked the door. They quickly entered the house and closed the door behind them. Mask locked the door behind them “juuuust in caaaase sheee cooomes baaack”.

“We’ll search the basement first, and then move through the house accordingly.” Army said. “We’ll have to be quiet, just in case someone else is here.” The other two nodded in agreement, and they descended the stairs.

The basement looked almost the same as Aloha remembered it.

Aloha walked towards a door in the corner. He took a deep breath, and opened the door.

There was nothing there. No one there. Aloha sighed in relief.

_ She locked you in there once. _

He remembered that. It was so cold.

“I dooon’t thiiink theeey’re heeere.” Mask called out.

“Alright, then let’s search the first floor.” Army said.

They continued to search, with Aloha looking at all of the secret spaces he knew was on the first floor.

They entered the kitchen, and Aloha tried to stay as composed as he could. 

A lot of things had happened here. But… he wasn’t going to think about it. 

He wasn’t going to think about it.

“Wow, she has many cooking supplies.” Army commented, looking in the pantry. “Look at all of these spices…”

“Armyyy. Weeee areeen’t heeere fooor the spiiices.” Mask reminded.

Still no sign of Scuba or Aviators.

They moved to the second floor.

“Alright. Last floor.” Army said. “We’ve already been in here for far too long.”

They first headed to Aloha’s mother’s room. Aloha’s hand shook as he twisted the doorknob open.

…there was no one there.

Aloha stepped into the room. He had… forgotten how much stuff was in this room.

Most of it used to be his. 

He opened the closet, and crawled to the back.

He felt the wall for a doorknob that he knew would lead to a small storage space.

…it was gone.

He crawled back out.

Well, there was only one room left.

He sighed. “There’s only my room left.”

Army and Mask looked at him. “Are you absolutely sure you’re up for this?” Army asked. “We can go in there for you.”

“No!” Aloha yelled. He covered his mouth. “I mean… please don’t. I’ll go.” He walked into the hallway.

“Waaaait, Alooohaaa-”

Aloha opened the door. He always remembered that the door would open from the outside. There wasn’t a doorknob on the other side.

“Leave the door open.” Aloha said, yanking open the door.

They were met with someone shouting, “S-stay back! Go away!”

Aloha looked to see who was there.

It was Aviators, holding Scuba tightly.

“Wait, A-Aloha?” Aviators said, clearly confused. He sighed in relief. “Oh t-thank cod.”

Army stepped forward. “What happened?”

Aviators looked down. “I d-don’t really know. I was w-walking home, and then e-everything went black. And th-then I was here. Scuba was t-tossed in here later, and he’s been u-unconscious ever since.” The purple inkling looked like he was trying not to cry. “Sh-she tried to h-hurt him. I d-didn’t let her.”

Aloha spotted bandages wound around Aviators’s limbs. “I guess you found my secret stash of stuff, huh?”

Aviators nodded. He tried to get up, and gasped in pain. He clenched his side, and coughed violently. 

Aloha moved towards the pair. “Hey, Aviators, take it easy, man.”

Aviators shook his head, trying to get up again. This time, his knee buckled, causing him to fall over and hit his head. He passed out onto the hard wood floor.

“Shit.” Aloha muttered, kneeling down to try to wake one of them up.

Meanwhile, Army was looking around the room. “Aloha, where is your bed?”

He froze. “It, uhm… I don’t have one. Just a buncha blankets.”

Army stared at him. “You… didn’t have a bed?”

“Well, I  _ did _ have a bed. And then my mum took it. Cause she was mad at me.” Aloha turned to Army, waving his hands. “But it’s okay! I still slept okay.”

Mask looked angry. “Thaaaat  _ biiitch! _ Whaaat kiiind ooof paaarent taaakes a beed?”

“I mean, she took basically alla m’ stuff.” Aloha shrugged. “I don’t really care.”

_ Liar. You cried for hours. _

Mask looked into the closet. “Uh… Aloooohaaaa? Whaaat is thiiis?” He held a small journal gently in his hands. 

Aloha smiled nervously. “It’s nothing~!” 

Mask narrowed his eyes. “It’s iiin youuur cloooset.”

“Uuuuh…” Aloha’s smile waivered. “I dunno what it is, Masky~!”

Mask opened the journal. “It says ‘Aloha’s’ in the corner of this page.”

“Uh.” Aloha didn’t really know what to say. He knew what was in that. But if he tried to stop Mask, he’d be more suspicious.

While he was debating what to do, Mask started flipping through the journal.

“Aloooha…” He started. “Whaaat theee-”

A shot rang through the house, interrupting Mask.

“Shit, we gotta go.” Aloha muttered, getting down on his knees to look through his secret compartment. “Where is that stupid… there it is!” 

It was a rope.

Army looked at the rope, and then looked at the window in understanding. “Alright, let’s open the window. Mask, try to get the lock, and do it quickly, please.”

Mask headed for the window, starting to fiddle with the lock.

Aloha tried again to wake up the two on the floor. No luck.

“I goot iiit!” Mask said, pushing open the window.

Aloha tied the rope to a hook on the door, closig the door in the process. “How are we going to get them down?”

“Visor? Are you in here?” He could hear his mother’s voice call.

He froze, feeling a jolt of panic shoot through him.

“Alooohaaa, youuu should goo first.” Mask said. “Weee’ll beee right behiiind youuu.”

Aloha looked at them uncertainly. “Are you sure?”

Army nodded. “We will be right behind you. I promise.”

Aloha nodded slowly, grabbing Scuba and climbing out the window. The climb felt familiar and reassuring, and he could feel himself relaxing as he climbed down the back of the house.

Everyone was going to be safe. He could go back to Inkopolis and everything could go back to… normal.

…nothing could go back to normal. Basically all of the things that he had kept secret for most of his life just… weren’t secrets anymore.

He really didn’t know how to feel about it. 

He saw Mask poke his head out the window, holding Aviators. He slid down the rope, cursing.

“She’s upstaaaairs. Armyyy’s stiiiill iiin theeere.” Mask’s face darkened. 

Aloha’s stomach dropped. “Oh cod.”

He could hear Army yell something, and Aloha jumped into action. He put Scuba down gently, and started to climb back up the rope. 

“Alooooha, what aaare youuu doing?!” Mask yelled. He tried to grab Aloha to bring him back down, but Aloha was already halfway up the rope.

Aloha scrambled up the rope, falling back into the room. “Army!” He yelled, looking up.

Army was trying to kick Aloha’s mother away. He was sprawled on the floor, his other leg pinned to the ground by the crazy woman’s hands.

“Aloha?” Army paused in shock. “Wait, Aloha, go back dOWN-” In his moment of vunerability, Aloha’s mom pinned the orange inkling’s other leg.

“Got you.” She grunted, dragging him into the hallway. 

Aloha yelped, and scrambled to his feet, running after Army and his mother.

“Army!” He yelled, skidding around a corner.

His mother was standing still, with her hands in the air. 

“Back away.” A cold voice ordered. Aloha froze.

Skull? How had he gotten here so fast? 

And how had he even… gotten here?

Oh, Mocha was there.

“‘m callin’ tha police on ya’, fer squidnappin’ and assult.” Mocha dialed the police and stood there, waiting. Skull had his e-liter trained on Aloha’s mother.

“Back away from Army.” Skull ordered coldly. Aloha’s mother laughed, and backed away from Army, who was slowly getting up.

Aloha was frozen. His mother… was getting arrested? He didn’t know whether to burst into tears of happiness, or feel guilty.

The guilt was winning. 

“‘loha, are ya’ okay?” Mocha was next to him, patting his shoulder.

He put his head in his hands. “I… don’t know.” He sighed. “After all of this time, it just feels… wrong, somehow.” 

Army was next to him now. “What do you mean, wrong?”

“I feel... guilty.” He murmured. “She… I don’t know if this is right.”

“What exactly are you saying, Aloha?” Army said. “Why do you feel guilty about this? She hurt people. This is what she deserves, Aloha.”

That sentence sent him into a spiral. Is this really what his mother deserved? 

_ She did this for you. She tried to remind you how these… people are corrupting you. _

Mocha interjected. “He doesn’ think tha’.” She said, making Aloha look at her. “He thinks tha’ alla this is his fault.”

Wow… scarily accurate. 

“This isn’t your fault, Aloha. Your mother is just took too much control over your life.” Army said.

Mask appeared behind Skull, carrying Scuba and Aviators with him. 

“Haaah. Haaah.” Mask wheezed. “Aaare youuu guyyys oookay?”

Everyone was silent. 

“...baaad tiime?” Mask asked. Skull nodded.

“The police is on their way. Thank cod.” Army sighed. 

Mocha walked over to the door. “Y’all can go back ta’ Inkop’lis. Take good care o’ m’ brother. I got this handled.” She pulled out a rope. “Hands behind yer back, ma’am.”

Once Aloha’s mother had been successfully tied up, Mocha sighed. “Thanks, y’all.” She beckoned to Skull, Army, and Mask to come closer. 

Aloha couldn’t hear what she said, but Army was blushing, so he assumed it was something embarrassing.

“Visor.” His mother spoke. “I hope you realize that these people aren’t good for you. Remember that.”

Aloha just looked at her blankly. Mask walkd over, grabbing Aloha’s hand. “Leeet’s gooo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh yeah i rewrote this chapter a bunch of times and have come to the conclusion that i kind of want to rewrite this entire thing
> 
> edit: yeah i started rewriting this. this chapter will tie up this weird arc thing, and then this fic will go on hiatus while i attempt to get my life together and rewrite this (school is hard)
> 
> once i do finish rewriting, ill upload it, and delete this one. uhh i had something else to say but i forgot- oh uh, the rewrite won't have this last arc. i honestly wrote this arc because i forgot what i was going to write originally... woops.
> 
> or i could upload chapters one at a time? and then when all of the chapters are rewritten ill delete this one. i dunno.
> 
> so for now, this is the last chapter.... sorry....
> 
> aaaalright! thats it. thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> this'll be interesting
> 
> if theres spelling mistakes sorry im tired ill fix it tomorrow
> 
> i also didnt format this im so sorry
> 
> theres a possibility that thisll make no sense im so so sorry
> 
> edit: okay, so i forgot to add the multichapter thing oh god woops
> 
> i also formatted it i think


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